Library  of 
The  University  of  North  Carolina 


COLLECTION  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


ENDOWED  BY 

JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 
of  the  Class  of  1889 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N  C  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped 
below  unless  recalled  sooner.    It  may  be 
renewed  only  once  and  must  be  brought  to 
the  North  Carolina  Collection  for  renewal. 


Form  No.  A- 369 


DANIEL   BOONE 

Wilderness  Scout 


BOOKS  BY  STEWART  EDWARD  WHITE 


THE  CLAIM  JUMPERS 

THE  WESTERNERS 

THE  BLAZED  TRAIL 

ARIZONA  NIGHTS 

BLAZED  TRAIL  STORIES 

THE  CABIN 

CAMP  AND  TRAIL 

conjuror's  HOUSE 

THE  FOREST 

THE  SIGN  AT  SEX 

THE  RULES  OF  THE  GAME 

THE  GRAY  DAWN 

THE  RIVERMAN 

THE  SILENT  PLACES 

THE  AD\^ENTURES  OF  BOBBY  ORDE 


THE  MOUNTAINS 

THE  PASS 

THE  MAGIC  FOREST 

THE  LAND  OF  FOOTPRINTS 

AFRICAN  CAMP  FIRES 

THE  REDISCOVERED  COUNTRY 

GOLD 

8IMBA 

THE  LEOPARD  WOMAN 

THE  MYSTERY 

(With  Samuel  Hopkins  Adams) 
THE  KILLER 
THE  ROSE  DAWN 
DANIEL  BOONE,  WILDERNESS  SCOUT 


Boone  s  wife  and  (UuigJiter,  Jemima,  irere  ihe  first  whiie  women 
to  set  foot  on  the  banks  of  the  Kentucky  River 


DANIEL  BOONE 

Wilderness  Scout 

BY 
STEWART  EDWARD  WHITE 


ILLUSTRA TED    B Y 
REMINGTON    SCHUYLER 


GARDEN   CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE   &  COMPANY 
1922 


COPTEIGHT^  1922,  BY 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE    &   COMPANY 

ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED,    INCLUDING    THAT    OF    TRANSLATION 

INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING   THE   SCANDINAVIAN 

COPYBIGHT,  192 1,   1922,  BY  THE  BOY  SCOUTS  OF  AMERICA 

FEINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AT 
THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS,  GARDEN  CITY,  N.  Y. 

First  Edition 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Boone's  wife  and  daughter,  Jemima,  were  the 
first  white  women  to  set  foot  on  the  banks 
of  the  Kentucky  river    ....     Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

Many  times  on  the  frontier  of  those  days  it 
had  happened  .  .  .  that  the  warrior 
stalking  by  had  been  painted  for  war  .     .        10 

Before  they  had  much  more  than  reached 
mid-stream,  the  Indians  appeared  on  the 
bank  behind  them 74 

And  so  in  this  pathless,  blinded  forest  ... 
the    Indians     moved,     invisible,     silent 

.     .     awaiting  the  moment  to  strike  .     154 

He  was  out  to  kill  in  his  madness;  yet  he  re- 
fused to  permit  the  torture  of  prisoners  .     234 


DANIEL   BOONE 

Wilderness  Scout 


DANIEL   BOONE: 

WILDERNESS  SCOUT 


CHAPTER  I 

WHEN  we  think  of  American  pioneers  we 
recall  automatically  certain  names — Daniel 
Boone,  Davy  Crockett,  Kit  Carson,  perhaps 
Simon  Kenton.  Of  course  there  were  hundreds,  yes 
thousands  of  others,  who  met  the  same  dangers,  ex- 
hibited at  least  approximate  skill,  fought  the  same 
savages.  But  the  names  of  most  of  them  are  un- 
known: and  of  the  rest  only  the  especial  student  is 
aware.  Often  the  more  obscure  men  have  performed 
specific  deeds  that  common  legend  ascribes  to  better 
known  names.  Columbus,  as  we  know,  was  really 
not  the  first  to  discover  America.  Common  belief  has 
it  that  Daniel  Boone  "discovered"  Kentucky;  but 
actually,  as  we  shall  see,  he  first  entered  Kentucky 
lured  by  the  glowing  tales  of  a  man  named  Finley 
who  had,  with  others,  preceded  him.  Did  you  ever 
hear  of  Finley.^     But  we  have  all  heard  of  Boone. 

1 


2  Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout 

This  is  because  these  men  have  possessed  some 
quality  that  the  others  did  not.  It  did  not  matter 
what  especial  deeds  they  performed.  Others  must 
have  performed  similar  feats,  or  the  West  would 
never  have  been-  conquered.  Those  deeds  became 
renowned,  not  so  much  because  they  were  thrilling, 
but  because  of  the  men  who  did  them. 

Thus  Daniel  Boone's  name  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  occupation  of  "the  dark  and  bloody 
ground"  because  he  was  Daniel  Boone. 

He  was  one  of  the  many  great  Indian  fighters  of 
his  time:  lived  for  years  with  his  rifle  and  tomahawk 
next  his  hand :  lost  brothers  and  sons  under  the  scalp- 
ing knife.  He  was  a  master  of  woodcraft,  able  to  find 
his  way  hundreds  of  miles  through  unbroken  forests, 
able  to  maintain  himself  alone  not  merely  for  a  day  or 
a  week  but  for  a  year  or  more  without  other  resources 
than  his  rifle,  his  tomahawk,  and  his  knife;  and  this 
in  the  face  of  the  most  wily  of  foes.  He  was  muscular 
and  strong  and  enduring;  victor  in  many  a  hand-to- 
hand  combat,  conqueror  of  farms  cut  from  the  forest; 
performer  of  long  journeys  afoot  at  speed  that  would 
seem  incredible  to  a  college  athlete.  He  was  a  dead 
shot  with  the  rifle,  an  expert  hunter  of  game.  Other 
men,  long  since  forgotten,  were  all  these  things. 

But  Daniel  Boone  was  reverent  in  the  belief  that  he 
was  ordained  by  God  to  open  the  wilderness.    He  was 


Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout  3 

brave  with  a  courage  remarkable  for  its  calmness  and 
serenity.  Calmness  and  serenity,  indeed,  seem  to 
have  been  his  characteristics  in  all  his  human  re- 
lations. Those  who  knew  him  remark  frequently  on 
this,  speak  of  the  fact  that  where  everyone  else  was 
an  Indian  hater,  Boone  never  cherished  rancour 
against  them,  so  that  as  honourable  antagonists  they 
alwaj^s  met,  both  in  peace  and  war.  He  was  trust- 
worthy, so  that  when  wilderness  missions  of  great 
responsibility  were  undertaken,  he  was  almost  in- 
variably the  one  called.  He  was  loyal  to  the  last 
drop  of  his  blood,  as  you  shall  see  in  this  narrative. 
He  was  ready  ever  to  help  others.  These  are  simple, 
fundamental  qualities,  but  they  are  never  anywhere 
too  common;  they  are  rarely  anywhere  combined  in 
one  man:  and  in  those  rough  times  of  primitive  men 
they  sufficed,  when  added  to  his  wilderness  skill  and 
determination,  to  make  him  the  leading  and  most 
romantic  figure.  If  the  Boy  Scouts  would  know  a 
man  who  in  his  attitude  toward  the  life  to  which  he 
was  called  most  nearly  embodied  the  precepts  of  their 
laws  let  them  look  on  Daniel  Boone.  ''Gentle,  kindly,  ^^ 
modest,  peace-loving,  absolutely  fearless,  a  master  of 
Indian  warfare,  a  mighty  hunter,  strong  as  a  bear  and 
active  as  a  panther,  his  life  was  lived  in  daily  danger, 
almost  perpetual  hardship  and  exposure;  yet  he  died 
in  his  bed  at  nearly  ninety  years  of  age. 


CHAPTER  II 

)1  NY  normal  and  healthy  boy  would  have 
r^L  revelled  in  a  youth  similar  to  that  of  Daniel 
Boone.  He  was  the  fourth  of  seven  brothers; 
and  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  River 
about  twenty  miles  above  Philadelphia.  His  place 
in  history  can  be  better  remembered  than  by  dates 
when  you  know  that  he  was  just  three  years  younger 
than  George  Washington.  When  he  was  three  years 
old,  the  family  moved  up  state  to  a  frontier  settle- 
ment that  has  since  become  the  city  of  Reading. 
Here  he  spent  his  boyhood  and  his  early  youth,  and 
here  he  took  his  first  lessons  in  a  school  that  was  to 
help  him  through  all  his  life,  the  Wilderness. 

For  at  that  time  Reading  was  a  collection  of  huts 
situated  in  a  virgin  country.  People  lived  in  log 
houses  set  in  clearings  that  were  slowly  and  labori- 
ously cut  out  from  the  forest.  They  spent  their 
days  swinging  the  axe,  hauling  and  burning  the  brush 
and  logs,  heaving  out  the  snarled  and  snaggy  stumps 
which  were  sometimes  burned,  but  more  often 
dragged  to  the  boundaries  of  fields  where  they  were 
set  on  edge  and  so  formed  a  fence  of  many  twisted 

4 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  5 

arms  and  crevices  and  holes  and  devious  passageways 
through  which  such  things  as  woodchucks  or  squirrels 
or  ruffed  grouse  or  small  boys  could  slip  in  a  fascinat- 
ing series  of  games  or  escapes.  And  then  the  soil 
must  be  ploughed  and  planted.  Cattle  roamed  the 
woods  near  by,  with  bells  so  that  they  could  be  more 
easily  found.  These  must  be  brought  in  every  night; 
and  while  usually  they  gathered  of  their  own  accord 
anticipating  the  reward  of  a  few  handfuls  of  corn, 
often  they  must  be  sought  for  in  the  depths  of  the 
forest.  That  was  in  itself  a  fine  training  in  wood- 
craft; for  not  only  must  one  find  the  cows,  but  must 
not  get  lost  oneself.  The  clothes  worn  were  spun  and 
woven  on  the  place;  every  item  of  food  and  wear, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  were  grown  or  fashioned  at 
home.  Never  was  there  lack  of  fascinating  and  use- 
ful occupation  for  the  little  Boones,  occupation  that 
not  only  developed  their  muscles  but  their  wits. 

For  one  thing  was  never  forgotten.  This  was  on 
the  border  of  the  Indian  country.  The  little  settle- 
ment of  Reading  was  not  near  enough  the  savages' 
home  country  to  be  exposed  to  the  frequent  attacks 
in  force  which  we  in  company  with  Boone  shall  see 
later;  but  it  was  always  in  danger  of  raids  and  forays 
by  stray  war  parties  from  over  the  mountains.  It 
was  settled  and  inhabited  in  great  part  by  men  who 
in  their  youth  had  fought  the  Indians.     As  part  of 


6  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

their  earliest  education  the  children  were  taught 
caution  when  out  of  sight  of  home.  The  woodcraft 
of  moving  quietly  in  the  forest,  of  trying  always  to 
see  everything  before  affording  a  chance'  of  being 
seen,  of  freezing  into  immobility  and  silence  at  the 
slightest  unknown  sound  or  movement  until  it  could 
be  identified  was  impressed  upon  them  as  a  mother 
partridge  impresses  the  same  thing  on  her  young. 

Nor  was  there  lack  of  opportunity  for  practice. 
Plenty  of  Indians  visited  the  little  settlement.  They 
were  "friendly"  Indians:  that  is  to  say,  they  were 
not  at  war  with  these  settlers  and  came  on  peaceful 
errands.  But  as  Indians  they  were  always  to  be 
suspected  by  a  brace  of  small  boys  hunting  cows  in 
the  forest.  And  so  very  early  in  life  these  children 
became  more  expert  in  observation  and  more  skilful 
in  concealment  than  anybody  could  possibly  be 
nowadays,  unless  he  had  the  same  training.  No 
more  thrilling,  fascinating  game  of  I-spy  or  hide-and- 
seek  could  be  imagined  than  this  penetration  of  the 
leafy  dark  forest,  every  sense  alert  for  every  sound 
and  movement;  the  mind  recognizing  them  instantly 
— red  squirrel  scratching  the  bark,  to  wee  the  leaves; 
the  rare  weird  scrape  of  a  leaning  tree  rubbing 
another  as  the  wind  touched  it;  the  cautious  pad  of 
the  lynx  as  it  crossed  a  patch  of  dead  and  sodden 
leaves;  the  innumerable  disguised  voices  of  wind  and 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  7 

water  and  the  cautious  conversation  of  woods  crea- 
tures— there  are  a  thousand  of  them;  and  they  all 
indicate  life  or  movement,  and  any  of  them  might  be 
a  prowling  savage,  unless  one  is  so  familiar  with  them 
that  he  recognizes  them  for  what  they  are.     And 
when  unmistakably  that  sound  or  movement  is  the 
savage,  stalking  confidently  along  in  the  forest  aisles 
3  with  head  shaven  all  but  the  long  scalplock  at  the 
crown,  painted  from  head  to  toe  in  the  bright  colours 
that  indicate  peace,  his  black  eyes  shifting  keenly 
with  the  perpetual  restlessness  of  the  man  who  lives 
among  dangers,  what  a  triumph'  to  fade  so  unobtru- 
sively   into    concealment    that    the   warrior   passes 
unnoticing!     There  was  a  zest  to  this  game.     For 
many,  many  times  on  the  frontier  of  those  days  it  had 
happened,   in   communities   quite  as  peaceful,   ap- 
parently, as  this,  that  the  warrior  stalking  by  had 
been  painted  for  war— the  war  paint  varied  with 
different    tribes:   but    was   most    often    black   with 
white  markings— and  that  the  children  searching  the 
woods  for  the  cattle  had  not  managed  to  escape 
notice.     Then  they  had  been  tomahawked  or  their 
brains  dashed   out   against   trees   or  carried  away. 
Just  such  a  thing  might  happen  at  any  time,  any- 
where.    You  may  be  sure  that  that  thought  was  im- 
pressed upon  them,  until  it  was  always  present  in  their 
minds.     And  so,  later,  when  you  read  of  marvellous 


8  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

escapes,  feats  of  woodcraft,  wiles  of  strategy  that 
seem  incredible,  remember  this  training  from  the 
earliest  years. 

-  Later  when  the  day's  work  was  over  and  the  fire 
was  roaring  in  the  fireplace,  the  elders'  conversation 
had  largely  to  do  with  the  strategy  and  wiles  of 
Indian  warfare.  These  men  talked  of  it  not  merely 
in  the  way  of  reminiscence  or  to  tell  a  tale;  but 
practically.  They  compared  notes  and  exchanged 
ideas  earnestly,  as  men  would  exchange  experiences 
or  methods  of  any  job.  Thus  young  Daniel  crouched 
in  the  chimney  corner  and  listening  with  all  his  ears 
learned  of  the  innumerable  wiles  and  stratagems  in 
which  the  Indians  were  so  skilful  and  ingenious;  and 
he  learned  them,  not  the  way  you  and  I  learn  them — 
as  curious  matters  of  interest — but  as  practical 
expedients  to  be  used  in  life;  much  as  you  now  would 
listen  to  experts  talking  about  exactly  how  and  where 
to  fish  where  you  are  going  on  your  vacation.  These 
items  of  experience  had  been  bought  with  blood  and 
massacre.  Each  trick  of  the  foe  had  probably  suc- 
ceeded one  or  more  times.  Only  thus  did  these 
pioneers  learn  to  maintain  themselves. 

Besides  the  necessity  of  getting  in  the  cattle  were 
other  errands  that  took  our  youngsters  abroad.  In 
those  times  were  tasks  for  every  pair  of  hands,  no 
matter  how  small.     We  of  this  age  hardly  know  what 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  9 

poverty  is,  as  these  men  and  women  knew  it.  We 
may  know  discomfort  and  squalor;  but  we  rarely 
front  the  danger  of  famine,  for  example,  face  to  face. 
These  people  perforce  travelled  life  with  a  light  pack. 
Like  the  hunter  far  from  his  base,  they  must  take 
every  advantage  the  country  offered.  Thus  the 
hickory  nuts,  and  walnuts,  and  beechnuts  and  butter- 
nuts, that  to  us  mean  merely  a  good  time  in  the  fall, 
to  them  were  an  essential  part  of  the  foodstuffs,  and 
were  carefully  gathered  and  stored.  That  was  the 
children's  job.  Then,  too,  there  were  the  berries  and 
wild  fruits — blackberries,  raspberries,  huckleberries, 
wild  plums,  wild  grapes — which  were  to  be  garnered 
in  their  proper  season;  and  edible  roots.  The  knowl- 
edge of  these,  together  with  the  possibilities  of  the 
inner  bark  of  certain  trees,  came  to  these  young 
people,  not  in  the  way  of  play,  but  in  the  course  of 
every-day  life.  Later  when  it  became  necessary,  as 
it  often  did,  for  them  to  cut  loose  from  all  contact 
with  civilization  and  to  rely  on  the  wilderness  for 
every  item  of  their  food,  clothing,  and  shelter, — save 
powder  and  lead, — they  could  do  so. 

Another  phase  of  this  unique  schooling  was  that 
which  is  now  done  by  our  games  and  gymnasiums.  I 
refer  to  the  building  of  their  physical  bodies.  They 
had  pretty  good  stock  to  start  from.  Their  immediate 
forbears  were  picked  men — picked  by  the  energy  and 


10  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

restlessness  of  their  dispositions  to  leave  the  more 
contented  stay-at-homes  and  set  sail  into  a  new 
world;  picked  again  from  the  more  settled  seaboard 
by  the  enterprise  and  audacity  of  their  spirits  to  push 
out  into  a  hard  and  dangerous  wilderness.  But  in 
addition  to  a  good  heredity  they  had  the  advantage 
of  a  healthy  life.  There  were  privations  and  even 
sufferings,  to  be  sure;  but  in  the  majority  of  cases 
these  served  merely  to  harden  the  fibre.  Year  in 
year  out  the  food  was  wholesome  and  generally 
abundant.  Besides  the  game,  fish,  berries,  and  other 
wild  products  they  had  cornbread,  Indian  pudding, 
maple  sugar,  milk,  butter,  and  sweet  potatoes.  Their 
days  were  spent  in  the  open  air.  From  the  time 
they  could  toddle  they  were  given  tasks  within  their 
strength,  all  of  which  required  long  continued  muscu- 
lar effort.  When  in  their  teens  they  used  the  axe, 
drove  the  teams,  lifted  at  the  logs  and  timbers,  held 
the  plough,  wrestled  with  the  clearing  and  the  planting 
of  the  stubborn  soil.  As  offset  to  this  heavy  labour, 
which  might  otherwise  tend  to  make  them  clumsy 
and  musclebound,  were  their  expeditions  into  the 
forest;  at  first,  as  we  have  said,  after  the  cattle  and 
wild  nuts  and  berries  near  at  home,  later  in  pursuit 
of  game  for  the  family  meat  supply.  The  necessity 
for  wariness,  not  only  to  get  the  game  but  to  save 
their  own  scalps,  made  them  as  supple  and  endur- 


Many  times  on  the  frontier  of  those  days  it  had  happened 
that  the  warriors  stalking  by  had  been  painted  far  war 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  11 

ing  as  their  home  labour  made  them  sinewy  and 
strong. 

This  physical  prowess  was  further  encouraged  by 
the  sports  of  the  day.  They  did  not  have  baseball, 
nor  basket  ball  nor  football.  But  when  boys,  or 
grown  men,  got  together  they  played  games  just  the 
same.  Catch-as-catch-can  wrestling  was  much  in 
vogue.  There  were  no  complicated  rules.  You 
just  got  hold  of  the  other  fellow  and  tried  to  throw 
him.  Technicalities  did  not  go.  It  did  you  no  good 
to  prove  that  both  shoulders  were  not  on  the  ground; 
you  were  flat  on  your  back,  and  that  was  enough. 
It  got  you  nowhere  to  flop  promptly  and  then  play  a 
defensive  game  flat  on  your  tummy;  you  were  down, 
and — what  was  the  real  point — your  opponent  could 
beat  your  face  in  or  tomahawk  you,  were  it  the  real 
thing.  You  were  licked.  They  ran  footraces,  too, 
at  all  distances;  jumped,  both  high  and  wide.  One  of 
the  most  important  of  sports  was  throwing  a  knife 
or  a  tomahawk  at  a  mark.  So,  of  course,  was  shoot- 
ing. About  the  only  real  game,  as  we  understand 
that  term,  was  lacrosse.  I  suppose  you  all  have  a 
theoretical  knowledge  of  that  game;  some  of  you  have 
seen  it;  and  perhaps  a  few  of  you  have  played  it.  If 
not,  look  it  up.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that  there 
is  no  game  that  involves  more  long-continued  fast 
running,  is  harder  on  the  wind,  or  that  requires  more 


12  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

endurance.  When  later  you  read  some  astonishing 
stories  of  feats  of  running  performed  by  men  escaping, 
or  attempting  to  escape,  from  the  Indians,  remember 
all  this  early^  easy,  natural,  almost  unconscious  train- 
ing. These  boys  exercised  not  at  stated  intervals, 
or  between  hours  spent  indoors,  but  every  day,  all 
day. 

One  other  thing.  They  often  underwent  what  to 
most  of  us  would  seem  extreme  discomfort.  We 
certainly  do  hate  to  be  literally  wet  to  the  skin. 
Often  we  say  we  are  "drenched  through"  when  in 
reality  we  are  wet  outside  and  sort  of  chilly  damp  in 
a  few  places  that  touch  our  skin.  But  to  be  really 
wet  through,  as  when  one  falls  in  a  river,  is  to  most  of 
us  pretty  tough  and  we  think  we've  had  a  hard  time, 
even  when  we  have  very  shortly  a  warm  house  to  go 
to.  These  children  had  no  umbrellas,  no  waterproof 
coats,  no  rubbers.  Indeed,  their  usual  foot  covering 
was  the  deerskin  moccasin;  and  that,  as  the  old-timer 
expressed  it,  will  wet  through  two  days  before  it  rains. 
They  were  so  often  wet,  so  often  cold,  that  early  in 
life  they  took  these  conditions  merely  as  annoying  but 
inevitable.  They  slept  in  un warmed  rooms  that  in 
winter  were  so  cold  that  water  in  a  pail  or  pan  would 
freeze  solid  to  the  bottom.  In  the  morning  they  had 
to  pile  out  in  that  atmosphere,  break  the  ice,  and 
wash.    I  am  not  going  to  harrow  your  tender  feelings 


Daniel  Boojie:   Wilderness  Scout  13 

further.  These  things  were  not  sufferings,  were  not 
so  very  terrible.  I  do  not  doubt  that  a  certain 
number  of  my  readers  in  the  rural  districts  may  be  a 
good  deal  in  the  same  boat  themselves.  But  in 
addition  to  all  the  rest  it  was  hardening  and  tempering 
them  later  to  endure.  You  must  understand  the  way 
they  were  raised  and  the  training  they  had  in  order 
intelligently  to  read  of  their  later  adventures. 

I  am  tempted  to  digress  at  this  point  and  tell  you  a 
story  of  ^ve  of  these  boys,  aged  from  nine  to  thirteen 
years.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  Daniel  Boone, 
except  that  it  shows  what  this  backwoods  training 
can  do  toward  making  young  lads  self-reliant  beyond 
their  years. 

It  was  in  the  year  1785.  The  two  Linn  brothers, 
a  boy  named  Brasher,  one  named  Wells,  and  another 
whose  name  we  do  not  know  left  home  to  shoot  ducks. 
They  camped  overnight  near  the  Ohio  River.  The 
fact  that  they  were  allowed  thus  to  go  alone  at  a  dis- 
tance shows  that  the  country  must  have  been  for 
some  time  quiet  and  that  Indians  were  not  expected. 
However,  hardly  had  they  returned  from  their  shoot- 
ing and  lighted  their  cooking  fire  when  they  found 
themselves  surrounded  by  savages.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  they  were  completely  encircled  Linn  and 
Brasher  made  a  dash  for  it.  Brasher  was  a  fast  run- 
ner and  an  expert  dodger,  even  at  the  age  of  twelve, 


14  Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout 

but  he  stumbled  over  a  root  and  was  seized.  Linn 
made  better  progress,  and  might  even  have  broken 
through  and  escaped,  but  he  refused  to  drop  his 
ducks ! 

Gathered  together  about  their  own  fire  the  Indians 
proceeded  to  question  them. 

"Where  you  from.^^"  demanded  their  leader. 

"From  Louisville,"  instantly  answered  Linn, 
naming  a  place  at  some  distance  in  order  to  conceal 
the  nearness  of  his  own  people. 

They  were  marched  at  a  swift  pace  for  many  days 
until  they  reached  the  Indian  town.  Indians  on  such 
a  journey  travel  steadily  all  the  day  through,  without 
pause.  They  carry  as  provisions  only  corn  and  maple 
sugar.  Their  pace  is  rapid  and  over  rough  country. 
If  any  captive  lags  or  falls  behind,  he  is  tomahawked. 
Yet  these  boys  of  from  nine  to  thirteen  kept  pace 
with  their  captors. 

At  the  Indian  town  the  women  and  children  rushed 
out  to  meet  them  shouting  abuse,  pelting  them  with 
dirt  and  sticks,  finally  approaching  near  enough  to 
pinch  and  slap  them.  The  Kentucky  boys  drew 
close  in  a  little  group.  Finally  Linn  picked  out  the 
biggest  Indian  boy  of  the  lot  and  knocked  him  down 
with  a  straight  left.  It  appears  that  as  a  lead  the 
straight  left  was  a  complete  surprise  to  these  rough- 
and-tumble  right-handed  fighters.     That  particular 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout         15 

Indian  boy  was  so  much  hurt,  or— more  likely— so 
much  astonished,  that  he  did  not  get  up;  but  another 
promptly  flew  at  young  Linn  for  revenge.  Linn 
licked  this  one.  That  was  too  much.  Every  young- 
ster in  the  village  piled  in.  The  white  boys  stood  back 
to  back  and  met  them.  It  was  Kentucky  against  the 
field.  The  squaws  too  tried  to  mix  in  the  rumpus,  but 
the  Indian  men,  interested  in  this  battle  against  odds, 
forbade  them.  And  in  spite  of  those  odds  the  white 
boys  won  the  battle. 

They  were  adopted  into  the  tribe,  and  to  a  boy 
entered  into  the  life  wholeheartedly  and  with  appar- 
ent enthusiasm,  as  though  they  had  no  regrets  for, 
had  forgotten,  their  own  people.  This  was  dissimu- 
lation so  well  carried  out,  even  by  the  nine-year-old, 
as  completely  to  deceive  the  sharp-eyed  watchfulness 
keen  for  any  signs  of  grief,  homesickness  or  regret. 
They  took  part  in  the  hunting,  in  the  wrestling,  the 
riding  and  racing.  Gradually  they  gained  the 
confidence  of  the  Indians  until  at  last  they  were  sent 
on  a  fishing  expedition  in  charge  of  a  very  old  Indian 
and  a  squaw. 

Down  the  river  they  consulted  anxiously  and 
changed  their  minds  a  number  of  times.  To  get 
home  they  must  cross  alone  many  miles  of  dense 
forest  wilderness  absolutely  unknown  to  them. 
Think  how  hard  it  is  to  keep  from  getting  lost  in  a 


16  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

very  moderate-sized  swamp  bottomland,  and  realize 
what  that  means.  This  wilderness,  moreover,  was 
full  of  enemies;  and  they  were  certain  to  be  pursued 
by  the  most  skilled  woodcraftsmen  as  soon  as  their 
absence  was  discovered.  They  had  almost  no  food; 
and  no  weapons  except  their  knives.  They  were,  as 
we  have  seen,  only  boys.  Try  to  think  of  yourself 
in  their  places.  Yet  their  hesitation  was  on  account 
of  none  of  these  things.  They  were  matters-of- 
course,  only  to  be  expected.  But  they  knew  that  if 
they  were  to  get  clear  away  it  would  be  absolutely 
necessary  for  them  to  kill  the  old  Indian  and  the 
squaw;  and  that  was  a  dreadful  decision  for  boys  to 
face. 

But  it  was  their  only  chance.  Shortly  the  tribe 
would  be  moving  so  far  away  as  to  make  thought  of 
escape  hopeless.     The  deed  was  done. 

It  took  them  just  three  weeks  to  reach  the  river, 
three  weeks  in  the  wilderness  without  food  or  shelter 
other  than  they  could  pick  up  by  the  way,  without 
other  directions  than  those  their  wits  suggested,  and 
at  the  last  pursued  by  the  Indians.  They  found  their 
way,  they  fed  themselves  on  the  berries,  barks,  and 
roots  their  education  had  taught  them;  they  eluded 
the  savages;  and  so  at  last  came  out  just  where  they 
wanted  to  be,  on  the  bank  of  the  river  opposite  Louis- 
ville. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  17 

Here  they  shouted  until  they  were  seen.  But  the 
people  of  the  town  were  afraid  to  cross  to  them.  It 
resembled  a  very  old  Indian  stratagem.  Again  and 
again  apparent  white  people,  speaking  good  English, 
had  appeared  on  river  banks  opposite  towns  or  flat- 
boats  floating  down  the  current.  They  told  piteous 
tales  of  escape  from  captivity,  of  imminent  pursuit, 
and  begged  frantically  for  rescue  before  the  Indians 
at  their  heels  should  appear  and  destroy  them.  No 
decent  man  could  resist  such  an  appeal.  Yet  when 
the  flatboat  had  been  swung  to  the  shore,  or  when  a 
rescue  party  had  crossed  from  the  town,  suddenly 
had  uprisen  hundreds  of  warriors,  and  the  decoys 
among  them.  A  good  many  massacres  had  taken 
place  in  this  manner,  enough  to  make  that  particular 
stratagem  well  known. 

So  though  the  boys  used  every  means  at  their 
command  to  carry  conviction,  they  failed.  The 
river  was  here  too  wide  to  talk  across. 

"We'll  be  caught  if  we  stay  here,"  said  Linn 
desperately  at  last,  "the  Indians  are  not  far  behind 
us." 

They  turned  up-stream  and  then,  with  no  other 
tools  than  their  knives,  they  set  about  making  a  raft. 
They  went  up-stream  so  that  when  they  crossed  the 
current  would  not  take  them  below  the  town.  They 
collected  pieces  of  driftwood  and  down  logs  small 


18  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

enough  to  manage,  and  bound  them  together  with 
strips  of  bark.  (Would  you  know,  as  they  did,  just 
what  bark  would  come  off  in  strips  at  that  time  of 
year  and  would  be  tough  enough  to  use  thus?)  The 
raft  was  done  in  a  very  short  time.  Four  sat  on  it 
and  Linn  swam  behind,  pushing.  So  real  had  been 
the  necessity  of  haste  that  before  they  had  much 
more  than  reached  mid-stream  the  Indians  appeared 
on  the  banks  behind  them!  It  sounds  almost  too 
much  like  a  moving-picture  plot;  but  it  is  true.  The 
Indians  fired  at  them,  and  the  bullets  splashed  the 
water  all  about  them;  but  they  arrived  safely. 

So  when  you  read,  or  someone  tells  you,  that 
Daniel  Boone  or  his  contemporaries  were  "ignorant 
and  uneducated, "  don't  you  believe  them.  (^  Edu- 
cation is  the  learning  of  things  that  fit  one  for  life.) 
These  men  may  have  been  to  a  certain  extent  illiter- 
ate in  that  they  did  not  read  many  books;  but  they 
read  life  and  nature  more  closely  than  we  ever  will, 
and  to  greater  purpose  than  most  of  us  w  ill  ever  read 
anything.  Daniel  Boone's  spelling  was  on  a  free  and 
untrammelled  principle  of  his  own,  though  he  could 
express  himself  well  and  clearly;  but  it  was  not  one 
per  cent,  as  free  and  untrammelled  as  our  readings 
would  be  of  the  things  that  meant  happiness,  life,  or 
death  in  his  kind  of  life.  He  was  a  very  highly  edu- 
cated man;  and  this  is  proved  by  his  character,  his 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout  19 

intelligence,  and  his  wisdom.  The  value  of  any  kind 
of  education  is  not  whether  you  know  more  of  certain 
things — book  or  otherwise — than  the  other  fellow, 
but  what  intelligence,  wisdom,  and  character  you  de- 
velop by  its  means. 

One  item  of  this  education,  and  one  of  the  most 
important,  I  have  left  until  the  last.  The  entire 
meat  supply  of  those  days  came  from  the  wild  game. 
If  a  man  would  provide  for  his  family  he  must  be  a 
hunter,  and  a  good  one.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  abundance  of  game  always  means  easier  hunting. 
It  may  be  easier  to  find  where  game  is,  but  the  indi- 
vidual animal  was  just  as  wary  then  as  now,  and  its 
successful  pursuit  demanded  as  much  woodcraft. 
Besides  the  usual  supply  of  fresh  meat  from  this 
source,  it  was  customary  also  to  lay  aside  each  year 
sufficient  dried  meat  in  strips,  or  "jerkey."  It 
might  be  interesting  for  you  to  know  that  the  word 
"jerkey"  is  a  corruption  of  an  ancient  Peruvian  word 
from  the  time  of  the  Incas,  char  qui,  meaning  dried 
meat.  Therefore  at  proper  times  of  year,  in  addition 
to  the  usual  short  excursions  near  at  hand,  the  settlers 
of  those  days  used  to  make  specifically  hunting  trips 
at  a  distance  for  the  purpose  of  laying  in  as  much 
meat  as  they  could  to  last  over  the  winter.  Hunting 
was  not  only  a  sport  but  a  serious  occupation. 

Fortunately    the    game    was    abundant.      Deer 


20  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

roamed  the  forests  in  herds;  bear  were  incredibly 
numerous;  squirrels  and  grouse  were  everywhere; 
wild  turkey  frequented  the  woods  in  large  flocks. 
Although  as  yet  beyond  the  reach  of  young  Boone, 
buffalo  and  elk  swarmed  but  just  over  the  seaboard 
mountains.  Youngsters  were  not  merely  permitted 
to  learn  to  shoot,  nor  left  more  or  less  to  their  own 
devices  in  the  process;  they  were  painstakingly 
taught  to  shoot  just  as  soon  as  they  could  lift,  how- 
ever waveringly,  the  long,  heavy  rifles  of  the  day. 
After  a  certain  amount  of  preliminary  instruction  the 
small  boy  got  a  licking  if  he  missed;  and  he  was 
openly  shamed  if  he  hit  a  squirrel  anywhere  but  in 
the  head.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  made  a  "fort 
soldier",  and  assigned  a  particular  loophole  in  case 
of  attack. 

In  all  this  varied  education  young  Daniel  Boone 
took  part  and  profited.  Indeed  he  may  be  said  to 
have  been  a  precocious  scholar,  graduating  younger 
than  his  mates  and  with  higher  honours.  He  had  a 
true  passion  for  hunting,  a  passion  that  lasted  all  his 
life  and  into  his  extreme  old  age.  In  very  early 
boyhood  he  had  a  cabin  all  of  his  own,  built  by  him- 
self, at  some  distance  from  home,  where  he  used  to 
live  for  considerable  periods  by  himself,  for  the 
purpose  of  better  hunting.  This  most  wholesome 
of  sports  took  him  constantly  far  afield,  led  him  into 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  21 

all  the  nooks  and  intricate  byways  of  the  wilder- 
ness about  him,  coaxed  him  into  grandeurs  and 
beauties  that  stay-at-home  pioneering  could  never 
have  shown  him.  That  is  what  makes  the  chase  of 
wild  animals  noble.  That  is  why  the  man  who 
kills  his  deer  on  a  still  hunt  is  miles  above  the  one 
who  stops  at  a  salt  lick  or  runway ;  why  he  who  makes 
his  own  stalk  can  look  down  on  the  man  who  tails 
a  guide.  Why  is  a  mountain  sheep  a  trophy  and  a 
merino  sheep  not?  Because  the  former  requires 
skill  and  knowledge  to  acquire.  If  somebody  else 
is  furnishing  the  skill  and  knowledge,  and  you  are 
just  trailing  along  and  pulling  the  trigger  when  you 
are  told  to,  why  not  shoot  the  merino.'*  It  means 
just  as  much,  really:  you  can  make  the  actual  rifle 
shot  as  distant  as  you  please.  But  if  you  do  shoot 
the  mountain  sheep,  or  the  elk,  or  whatever  it  is, 
after  a  guide  has  done  all  the  real  work  for  you,  and 
you  hang  its  head  on  the  wall,  aren't  you  tacitly 
indulging  in  a  little  false  pretence?  A  mountain 
sheep  head,  in  a  way,  is  a  sort  of  advertisement  or 
certificate  that  a  certain  amount  of  woodcraft  and 
especial  skill  has  been  used  to  get  it.  That  is  the 
only  reason  why  a  tame  sheep's  head  is  not  just 
as  good.  If  you  hang  it  on  your  wall,  as  your 
trophy,  you  imply  that  you  had  and  used  that  wood- 
craft and  especial  skill.     Did  you?     The  real  aim 


£2  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

of  sportsmanlike  hunting,  the  real  value  of  the 
hunting  instinct,  is  not  the  killing  of  animals;  it  is 
the  acquiring  of  qualities  of  wisdom  and  hardihood 
and  patience  and  knowledge  that  will  enable  you  to 
find  and  kill  animals. 


CHAPTER  III 

SINCE  the  two  most  important  single  items 
in  the  life  and  development  of  those  times 
were  the  axe  and  the  rifle,  and  since  fire- 
arms and  shooting  are  interesting  in  themselves,  it 
will  be  amusing  and  worth  while  to  talk  about  them 
a  little.  I  suppose  it  would  not  be  an  exaggeration 
to  say  that  from  cradle  to  grave  one  or  the  other  of 
these  instruments  was  in  the  hands  of  any  pioneer 
during  fully  half  his  waking  hours. 

Of  the  axe  there  is  not  much  of  importance.  The 
American  pioneer  developed  the  well-balanced  instru- 
ment we  use  to-day.  Before  him — and  indeed  in 
many  parts  of  Europe  still — the  helve  was  straight 
and  clumsy.  But  every  frontier  farm  had  to  be 
cleared  by  chopping,  and  the  wielders  of  the  axes 
soon  refined  the  old  implement  to  a  long,  slender 
affair  with  a  light  head.  The  material  was  softer 
than  that  of  our  present-day  axes.  It  blunted  more 
easily;  but  in  compensation  it  could  be  sharpened 
readily  on  stones  to  be  picked  up  almost  anywhere. 
As  to  the  rifle,  there  is  the  widest  misconception. 
Those  who  do  not  know  very  much  about  rifles  are 

23 


24  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

quite  apt  to  ascribe  impossible  accuracy  to  them. 
James  Fenimore  Cooper  had  a  lot  to  do  with  that 
by  telling  in  his  Leatherstocking  Tales  of  Hawkeye 
hitting  nail  heads  at  a  hundred  yards,  clipping  the 
heads  off  soaring  hawks,  placing  one  bullet  on  top 
of  another,  and  a  whole  variety  of  wonderful  tales. 
The  tradition  has  been  carried  forward  by  romancers 
and  just  plain  and  fancy  liars  ever  since. 

Now  item  one:  you  cannot  see  a  nail  head  at  one 
hundred  yards;  and  anybody  who  can  hit  what  he 
cannot  see  is  wasting  his  time  when  there  are  so 
many  other  miracles  to  be  performed.  Item  two: 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  "error  of  dispersion." 
That  is  to  say,  if  you  place  any  rifle  in  a  machine 
rest  and  from  it  fire  a  series  of  shots,  you  will  not 
find  the  bullets  superimposed  one  over  the  other: 
they  will  be  found  grouped  very  close  together,  and 
the  diameter  of  that  group  is  the  error  of  dispersion. 
This  error  is  due  to  a  number  of  things,  some  in- 
herent in  the  weapon  and  the  ammunition,  and  some 
due  to  temperature,  wind,  barometric  pressure,  and 
the  like.  The  error  of  dispersion  at  Cooper's  hun- 
dred yards  for  the  most  accurate  rifle  ever  made 
would  average  an  inch  or  two  wider  than  any  nail 
head. 

But  James  Fenimore  Cooper  is  not  alone  re- 
sponsible.    We  get  many  honestly  intended  stories 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  25 

of  the  prowess  of  "a  man  I  know."  One  man  of 
my  acquaintance  used  to  turn  an  interesting  purple 
at  even  an  eyebrow  raised  over  his  story  of  an 
acquaintance  who  habitually  killed  running  coyotes 
at  eight  hundred  yards  with  a  30-30  carbine.  I 
do  not  know  the  exact  error  of  dispersion  of  that 
weapon  at  that  range  but  it  is  somewhere  between 
ten  and  forty  feet!  And,  mind  you,  in  considering 
only  the  error  of  dispersion  we  are  assuming  that 
the  shooter  sees  perfectly,  holds  perfectly,  can  esti- 
mate distance  to  a  yard,  lets  off  perfectly. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  dispersion  error  as  a 
reason  for  distrusting  the  Dick  Dead-eyes,  we  will 
now  examine  another  little  joker  called  the  triangle 
of  error.  You  lay  your  rifle  across  some  sort  of 
solid  rest;  and,  without  touching  it,  you  look  through 
the  sights.  About  forty  feet  away  you  have  a  friend 
with  a  pencil,  and  a  piece  of  white  paper  pinned 
against  a  box.  The  friend  moves  the  point  of  the 
pencil  here  and  there  at  your  command  until  the 
sights  are  accurately  aligned  on  it.  Then  you  yell 
Mark!  and  the  friend  makes  a  little  dot — invisible 
to  you — where  the  point  of  the  pencil  happens  to  be. 
He  removes  the  pencil,  you  remove  your  eye  from 
the  sights,  and  try  it  again  of  course  without  dis- 
turbing the  gun.  If  your  eye  is  absolutely  accurate 
the  second  pencil  dot  should  be  on  top  of  the  first. 


26  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Only  it  isn't.  The  triangle  formed  by  three  trials 
is  the  above-mentioned  triangle  of  error.  It  meas- 
ures the  variations  of  sighting  your  eye  has  be- 
trayed you  into  through  the  fixed  sights  of  an  un- 
moved gun.  The  size  of  the  triangle  will  humiliate 
you.  It  can  be  reduced  by  practice;  and  it  must 
be  reduced  by  practice  if  you  are  to  become  a  good 
shot;  but  it  will  never  entirely  disappear.  Its 
error  must  be  added  to — or,  in  case  of  a  lucky  shot, 
subtracted  from — the  dispersion  error. 

Up  to  this  moment  you  have  not  touched  the  gun, 
yet  already  the  Leatherstocking  feats  have  been 
shown  to  be  absurd.  Now  you  must  introduce  the 
personal  element,  the  consideration  of  whether  you 
are  a  good  shot  or  not.  Daniel  Boone  and  his 
companions  were  wonderful  shots,  but  they  were 
not  perfect  shots.  No  man  is  that.  And  this 
personal  error,  no  matter  how  small,  must  be  added 
to  the  mechanical  errors  mentioned  above.  No 
wonder  people  get  a  false  idea  of  the  capabilities  of 
rifle  shooting,  so  that  when  they  see  some  really 
good  shooting  it  does  not  seem  much  to  them.  And 
no  wonder  those  who  do  know  something  about  it 
come  to  distrust  all  the  old  stories. 

But  these  have  gone  to  the  other  extreme  in  their 
disparagement  of  the  arms  of  those  days.  They 
are  willing  to  acknowledge  that  the  men  who  used 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout  27 

them  were  wonderful  shots,  considering  the  arms 
they  had  to  use;  but  that  with  modern  weapons  they 
would  have  been  very  much  better  shots.  For  the 
old  flint-lock  rifles  of  those  days  they  have  a  good- 
humoured  contempt.  They  point  out  the  ex- 
cessively long,  heavy  barrel,  the  short,  light  stock 
with  its  scooped  butt  plate;  the  simple  open  sights; 
and  they  clinch  the  matter  by  calling  attention  to 
the  flint  lock  and  what  they  think  must  have  been 
its  slow  action,  amounting  practically  to  "hang 
fire. "  In  contrast  they  show  us  the  modern  light, 
high-velocity  rifle  with  its  balance,  its  aperture  or 
telescopic  sights,  its  true,  quick-acting  locks,  the 
speed  and  precision  of  its  percussion  ignition.  The 
legend  emanating  from  this  body  of  opinion  is 
that  accurate  shooting,  as  we  understand  it,  must 
have  been  quite  impossible. 

Well,  let  us  see. 

The  typical  "Kentucky  rifle"  looks  to  us  like  a 
uselessly  and  stupidly  clumsy  affair,  to  be  sure.  It 
was  so  long  that  a  tall  man  could  rest  his  chin  on 
its  muzzle  when  the  butt  was  on  the  ground.  In 
contrast  to  its  heavy,  long  octagonal  barrel,  the 
stock  was  short  and  light,  which  made  it  muzzle 
heavy.  The  low  sights  consisted  of  a  plain  bar 
with  a  nick  in  it  for  the  rear,  and  a  knife-blade  of 
silver  or  bone  in  front.     It  was  fired,  of  course,  by 


28  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

a  flint  lock.  Boone's  rifle,  which  is  still  in  ex- 
istence, was  five  feet  three  and  a  half  inches  long, 
of  which  the  barrel  was  over  four  feet.  It  carried  a 
round  ball  that  weighed  55  to  the  pound,  or  130 
grains — 15  grains  more  than  a  .32  Winchester.  As 
the  balls  were  round,  however,  the  calibre  was 
about  44.     It  weighed  eleven  pounds. 

Now  why  did  Boone  pick  that  particular  kind  of 
weapon  .f^  Most  people  do  not  realize  that  there 
were  then  plenty  of  what  we  call  light  and  handy 
rifles  in  existence,  and  they  shot  well,  too.  All 
sorts  of  ideas  were  tried  out  very  thoroughly.  There 
was  plenty  of  opportunity  to  experiment.  If  Boone 
and  his  companions  and  contemporaries  deliber- 
ately chose  all  their  lives  to  carry  eleven  pounds  of 
metal,  to  burden  themselves  with  five  feet  or  so  of 
gun,  then  they  must  have  had  good  reasons.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  they  did  have  good  reasons. 

In  the  backwoods,  remote  from  all  sources  of 
supply,  economy  of  powder  and  lead  was  greatly 
desirable.  It  became  an  absolute  necessity  when, 
as  did  Boone,  the  hunter  cut  loose  for  a  year  at 
a  time.  He  should  be  able  to  vary  his  charge  of 
powder  according  to  the  distance  he  had  to  shoot 
and  the  game  to  be  shot.  Now  a  patched  round 
bullet  in  a  barrel  with  a  slow  twist  is  the  only  sort 
whose  consistent  shooting  is  not  affected  by  great 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  29 

variations  of  powder  charge.  A  rifle  shooting  a 
long  or  conical  bullet  must  be  resighted  with  any- 
radical  increase  or  reduction  of  the  charge.  It 
will  be  just  as  accurate  with  the  new  charge,  per- 
haps, but  the  bullets  will  hit  to  the  right  or  left  of 
the  old  sighting.  Increase  of  powder  behind  a 
patched  round  ball,  however,  does  not  affect  the 
sighting  at  all.  It  will  merely  add  velocity,  and 
so  cause  it  to  shoot  farther  and  hit  harder.  The 
sighting  does  not  have  to  be  changed. 

Thus  the  hunter  when  shooting  small  game  at 
close  ranges  would  often  use  but  a  thimbleful  of 
powder,  while  for  extreme  distances  he  would  pour 
in  double!  Each  man  tried  out  his  own  rifle  with 
different  charges  until  he  knew  exactly  what  it 
would  do.  Usually  about  half  the  weight  of  the 
bullet  in  powder  made  a  full  load.  He  took  the 
same  sight  up  to  about  fifty  yards  with  the  thimble- 
ful charge  that  he  would  at  one  hundred  with  the 
full  charge,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  with  a  double 
charge.  There  is  a  very  persistent  legend,  which 
probably  you  have  heard,  that  they  used  to  measure 
the  powder  by  pouring  it  on  a  bullet  held  in  the 
palm  of  the  hand  until  the  bullet  was  completely 
covered.  No  such  inaccurate  method  would  have 
been  tolerated  for  a  moment  by  any  good  shot. 
When  once  the  proper  charge  was  determined  the 


30  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

^  hunter  made  him  a  little  charge  cup  to  hold  just 
the  proper  amount,  usually  from  the  tip  of  a  deer's 
horn,  and  this  was  suspended  by  the  bottom  (to 
keep  it  dry)  from  the  powder  horn. 

Thus  we  have  found  a  very  good  reason  for  the 
round  ball,  and  for  the  fact  that  the  front  and  rear 
sights  were  fixed.  They  did  not  need  to  be  moved 
because  the  point  of  aim  was  always  the  same:  the 
powder  was  varied  for  different  ranges,  and  as  there 
was  no  increased  "drift"  it  was  unnecessary  to 
move  them  sideways. 

But  why  the  very  long,  thick,  and  therefore  heavy 
barrel.^  We  are  usually  told  that  it  was  to  "burn 
all  the  powder."  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  in  a 
machine  rest  a  barrel  a  foot,  or  even  eighteen  inches, 
shorter  is  just  as  accurate.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
reason  is  the  same  as  for  the  round  ball:  scarcity  of 
ammunition.  The  aim  had  to  be  deadly.  It  might 
be  added  that  without  muzzle  loaders,  and  without 
the  advantage  of  our  magazines,  it  was  extremely 
desirable  to  make  the  first  shot  count!  And  so, 
again,  the  aim  had  to  be  deadly.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  these  weapons  were  developed  in 
a  country  where  most  of  the  shooting  was  done  in 
the  deep  shade  of  forests.  Aperture  sights  were 
out  of  the  question:  and  aperture  sights  are  the 
only  sort  that  do  not  blur  near  the  eye.     Try  it. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  31 

You  will  find  it  impossible  to  focus  sharply  on  the 
rear  sight,  the  front  sight,  and  the  object  of  aim  all 
at  the  same  time.  One  of  them  must  be  blurred 
somewhat.  Usually  it  is  the  rear  sight,  because  a 
slight  blur  there  is  of  lesser  importance.  How  can 
this  be  obviated.'^  By  getting  the  eyes  farther  away 
from  the  rear  sight.  Try  that.  Lay  your  rifle 
across  a  table  and  then  look  over  the  sights  from 
a  little  distance  back.  Both  the  sights  and  the 
object  of  aim  will  be  clear  and  well  defined;  and 
naturally  that  makes  for  better  accuracy.  The 
only  way  to  gain  this  result  is  to  build  a  very  long 
barrel  and  place  the  rear  sight  some  distance  down  it. 
For  remember,  if  you  want  accuracy  there  must  be 
considerable  distance  between  the  front  and  rear 
sights.  In  addition  to  this  consideration  there  is 
no  question  that  a  strong  man  can  hold  a  muzzle- 
heavy  gun  steadier  than  he  can  a  muzzle-light  gun; 
and  these  were  all  strong  men. 

Besides,  the  thick  barrel  vibrates  less  than  the 
thin  barrel,  has  less  ''whip",  as  it  is  called.  A 
modern  light  rifle  often  has  a  tremendous  "whip", 
sufficient  to  throw  the  bullet  far  off  the  mark,  but 
since  the  whip  is  always  the  same  it  can  be  com- 
pensated for  by  the  sights.  If  the  powder  charge  is 
changed,  however,  then  the  amount  and  perhaps  the 
direction  of  the  whip  changes,  so  that  your  former 


32  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

sighting  would  be  no  good  at  all.  That  is  one 
reason  why  reduced  charges  are  so  unsatisfactory 
in  modern  rifles.  But  these  thick,  heavy  barrels 
reduced  whip  to  almost  nothing.  It  was  still  further 
reduced  by  the  material  from  which  the  barrels 
were  made,  a  very  soft  iron,  so  soft  that  a  shaving 
could  be  cut  from  the  edge  of  the  octagon  barrel 
without  dulling  a  knife.  The  fact  that  they  made 
the  knives  showed  that  they  could  make  harder 
metal;  but  this  soft  iron  had  less  vibration,  less  whip. 

There  was  also  less  recoil  to  a  heavy  gun.  That 
does  not  sound  important ;  certainly  these  husky  fron- 
tiersmen ought  not  to  have  minded  that,  especially 
in  view  of  the  "kick"  we  get  along  with  in  our  rifles. 
It  was  not  important  when  the  butt  was  rested 
against  the  shoulder.  But  very  often  the  butt  was 
rested  on  the  upper  arm,  or  even  in  the  crook  of  the 
elbow.  It  enabled  the  shooter  to  hold  looser  and 
across  his  body,  which  made  for  steadiness:  but  it 
was  especially  practised  because  he  could  shoot  from 
behind  a  tree  without  exposing  more  than  an  eye 
and  his  forearm.  And  that  was  a  healthy  thing  to 
do! 

The  sights  were  set  low  on  the  barrel  not  only  for 
the  obvious  reason  that  they  were  less  liable  to  in- 
jury, but  also  to  prevent  the  rifleman  from  "drawing 
coarse,"  that  is  taking  in  too  much  of  the  front  sight 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  33 

and  hence  shooting  too  high.  We  do  that  on  purpose 
sometimes  when  shooting  at  longer  ranges,  but  they 
got  the  same  effect,  it  must  be  remembered,  by  in- 
creasing the  powder  charges.  As  has  been  said,  the 
sights  w^ere  in  forest  country  adjusted  for  one  hundred 
yards  for  full  charges  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  for  the  double  charges.  In  the  open  country 
and  in  war  they  made  these  point-blank  ranges  longer. 

Shooting  across  the  body  and  from  behind  trees 
accounts  for  the  deep  scooped  butt-plates  and  for  the 
shortness  and  "drop"  of  the  stocks.  On  the  right 
side  of  the  latter  was  a  trap  with  a  hinged  brass  cover 
for  patches  and  grease.  You  may  be  sure  that  the 
brass  was  never  polished!  Indeed  when  the  metal 
anywhere  began  to  show  bright  it  was  rubbed  with 
the  crushed  pod  of  a  green  hazelnut  or  some  other 
vegetable  acid.  No  one  wanted  a  glint  of  light  to 
betray  him  to  his  foes. 

The  bore  at  the  muzzle  was  very  slightly  enlarged 
to  permit  of  seating  the  bullet  easily,  which  rested 
on  a  greased  patch  and  was  rammed  home  so  as  just 
to  touch  the  powder,  but  not  to  crush  the  grains. 
That  is  another  silly  legend,  that  the  bullet  must  be 
rammed  down  hard  "until  the  ramrod  jumps  out  of 
the  barrel."  Such  a  procedure  would  give  an  as- 
tounding variety  of  pressures;  and  our  forebears  knew 
better.     Home-made  linen  was  used  for  the  patches. 


34  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

It  is  generally  buckskin  in  the  story  books;  but  buck- 
skin was  too  thick  and  was  never  used  when  linen 
could  be  had.  It  permitted  quicker  loading,  because 
the  bullet  did  not  need  to  be  forced  in  to  make  a 
tight  fit;  it  made  a  gas  check  that  prevented  the  gas 
from  getting  into  the  barrel  ahead  of  the  bullet;  it 
prevented  stripping  the  ball,  and  so  "leading"  the 
barrel;  and  it  made  possible  firing  many  times  with- 
out cleaning. 

The  flint  lock,  of  course,  they  used  because  they 
had  no  other.  If  they  could  have  had  percussion 
they  would  have  been  the  more  pleased.  But  a 
properly  made  flint  lock  was  not  too  slow  for  accurate 
shooting.  They  are  judged  mainly  by  the  crude 
specimens  to  be  found  on  the  old  Brown  Bess  muskets 
and  similar  atrocities  to  be  seen  hanging  on  our  walls. 
These  had  a  ponderous  hammer  with  a  long  sweep, 
a  cumbersome  heavy  trigger,  an  appreciable  hang 
fire.  Click— floo — hang!  went  they.  But  the  rifles  of 
the  hunters  were  furnished  with  finely  adjustable  set 
triggers  that  went  off  at  a  touch.  For  the  benefit  of 
those  who  do  not  know:  a  set  trigger  outfit  consists 
of  two  triggers;  when  one  is  pressed  it  "sets"  the 
other,  which  will  then  go  off  literally  "at  a  touch." 
Until  set,  however,  it  is  safe.  The  spring,  lock,  and 
pan  all  worked  smoothly  and  accurately  together, 
"like  two  sides  of  a  wolf  trap,"  as  somebody  expressed 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  35 

it.  " The  mainspring,"  wrote  the  same  man,  "has  an 
even  velvety  feel,  soft  yet  quick  and  sharp.  It  shot 
with  remarkable  evenness.  This  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  same  amount  of  gas  escaped  from  the 
touch  hole  each  time  it  was  fired.  The  touch  hole 
was  bushed  with  platinum  and  therefore  never 
burned  out.  And,  finally,  I  never  saw  this  arm  misfire. 
Its  owner  never  used  any  but  the  finest  French  flints, 
thin  and  very  sharp.  They  were  semi-transparent, 
and  one  would  fire  150  shots." 

That  was  something  all  these  men  insisted  on,  the 
thin,  clear  flint,  scraped  very  fine  and  clean,  and  held 
by  very  tight-set  screws.  That,  with  the  other  de- 
tails noted  above,  practically  obviated  hang  fires. 

Another  thing  they  were  extremely  particular 
about  was  the  quality  of  the  powder.  They  made 
gunpowder  in  America  then,  but  it  was  of  an  inferior 
quality,  consumed  mainly  by  farmers.  Occasionally 
a  backwoodsman  might  employ  it  on  game  near 
home  but  never,  if  he  could  help  it,  on  any  serious 
business.  He  wanted  French  powder,  with  its  fine, 
hard  grains  of  a  glossy  black.  This  was  quicker  and 
more  uniform  in  action,  and  when  it  was  used  the 
rifle  did  not  need  wiping  out  so  often.  Caked  pow- 
der dirt,  as  we  all  know,  is  fatal  to  accuracy. 

This  powder  was  carried  in  a  powder  horn  of  from 
a  half  pound  to  a  pound  capacity.     It  was  literally 


36  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

a  cow  or  buffalo  horn,  but  was  far  from  the  ugly 
clumsy  makeshifts  we  see  hanging  on  old  muskets. 
Our  frontiersman  used  to  scrape  and  scrape  again 
until  the  horn  was  almost  as  thin  as  isinglass.  When 
the  grains  of  the  powder  could  be  seen  through  the 
horn,  it  was  considered  a  good  job.  From  the  tip  of 
the  horn  depended  by  a  thong  the  charger,  hung 
mouth  down  to  keep  it  dry.  Never  in  any  circum- 
stances did  they  use  metal  powder  horns.  They 
were  made  even  then,  but  they  were  used  exclusively 
by  the  farmer  and  the  military.  Powder  carried 
for  any  length  of  time  in  copper  or  iron  is  sure  to  de- 
teriorate because  these  metals  "sweat," — accumulate 
moisture  at  different  temperatures.  Powder  came 
from  the  factories  in  canisters,  but  was  invariably 
transferred  to  wooden  kegs  when  it  was  to  be  stored 
for  any  length  of  time;  or  in  gourds  for  lighter  trans- 
portation. Lewis  and  Clark  had  the  ingenious  idea 
of  carrying  their  main  powder  supply  in  caskets  of 
lead,  which  does  not  sweat;  and  they  made  the  cas- 
kets of  just  enough  lead  to  melt  into  bullets  for  the 
amount  of  powder  they  contained.  The  bullets  were 
carried  in  a  pouch,  which,  by  the  way,  was  called 
the  shot  pouch,  never  the  bullet  pouch. 

With  this  outfit  the  first-class  shot  could  not  drive 
nails  at  a  hundred  yards,  nor  superimpose  balls  one 
over  the  other,  but  he  could  do  excellent  shooting. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  37 

In  comparison  with  what  anybody  else  could  do  in 
those  days  with  any  other  weapon  then  extant,  he 
did  marvellous  shooting.  Muskets  were  elsewhere 
in  almost  universal  use,  long  smooth  bores.  Their 
bore  was  a  little  larger  than  that  of  a  12-gauge  shot- 
gun, and  carried  a  round  ball  of  about  600  grains.  If 
carefully  aimed  it  would  hit  a  mark  a  foot  square  at 
forty  yards.  At  one  hundred  yards,  where  Cooper's 
riflemen  were  driving  nails,  about  half  the  balls 
would  go  into  a  four-foot  square.  At  two  hundred 
yards  it  is  on  record  that  an  "expert"  triumphantly 
planted  a  bullet  on  a  mark  eighteen  feet  square! 
This  was  all  very  well  when  all  you  had  to  do  was  to 
hit  a  whole  regiment  in  the  close  formation  of  that 
day,  but  when  it  came  to  a  squirrel's  head  or  an  In- 
dian's eye ! 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  get  accurate  records,  for 
they  did  not  keep  them.  The  men  did  a  good  deal 
of  match  shooting,  but  the  proposition  was  to  come 
closest  to  a  pin  point  dead  centre.  A  cross  was 
marked  on  a  piece  of  board,  and  the  contestant 
pinned  over  the  cross  anything  he  pleased,  large  or 
small,  to  aim  at.  After  he  had  fired  they  took  down 
the  paper  and  examined  to  see  how  near  the  centre 
of  the  cross  his  bullet  had  hit.  It  is  related  quite 
casually  of  Daniel  Boone  that  at  a  siege  by  Indians 
he  shot  through  the  head  a  man  perched  in  a  tree  two 


38  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

hundred  paces  away.  That  would  be  excellent  shoot- 
ing to-day.  Hangar,  a  British  officer,  says  of  the 
backwoodsman  that "  Provided  he  can  draw  good  and 
true  sight  he  can  hit  the  head  of  a  man  at  two  hundred 
yards."  As  you  have  learned,  it  was  customary  to 
shoot  squirrels  in  the  head !  Of  course,  that  is  close 
range,  from  twenty  to  forty  yards.  It  seems  prob- 
able that  within  the  limits  of  their  range,  even  with 
the  "clumsy  flint-lock  rifles,"  they  held  even  with 
the  best  shots  of  our  day,  making  up  in  practice  and 
care  of  detail  what  little  they  lacked  in  refinement 
of  weapon. 

And  how  they  could  handle  that  weapon !  Kephart 
tells  of  an  old-timer  who,  on  request,  gave  an  exhibi- 
tion of  loading.  He  performed  the  feat  in  under  ten 
seconds.  This  was  a  percussion  lock.  Probably  a 
flint  lock  would  be  about  as  fast,  for  the  time  neces- 
sary to  cap  a  nipple  or  prime  a  pan  would  be  ap- 
proximately the  same.  It  was  a  commonplace  that 
any  hunter  should  be  able  to  reload  at  a  gallop  on 
horseback,  or  when  running  fast  afoot.  That  was  no 
light  feat  of  sleight-of-hand — to  pour  the  powder  in 
the  muzzle,  ram  home  the  ball,  prime  the  pan.  It 
strikes  me  there  must  have  been  a  lot  of  powder 
spilled  in  the  learning! 

Of  course  in  the  rapid  close-range  work  of  a  pitched 
battle  extreme  care  was  unnecessary.     Speed  was 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  39 

much  more  important.  The  powder  was  poured  in 
by  guess  direct  from  the  horn.  The  bullets  were  held 
in  the  mouth.  Without  the  greased  patch  they 
were  small  enough  to  drop  down  the  barrel  of  their 
own  weight :  and  being  wet  with  saliva  they  stuck  to 
the  powder  and  so  did  not  roll  out  again.  But  that 
was  for  pressure  of  business.  Whenever  he  had  the 
seconds  to  spare  the  frontiersman  loaded  carefully, 
and  was  ready  to  pick  off  a  foe  who  exposed  no  more 
than  an  eye  or  an  elbow  from  behind  the  tree. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHEN  the  young  Daniel  Boone  was  eighteen 
years  old  his  father  decided  to  move  farther 
south  into  a  ne\<^er  country.  You  may  be 
sure  Daniel  eagerly  seconded  that  move.  Although 
the  surroundings  of  Reading  would  have  seemed 
wild  enough  for  us,  young  Boone  already  knew  them 
so  thoroughly  that  his  restless  spirit  demanded  new 
countries  to  explore.  They  trekked  across  Mary- 
land and  Virginia  on  their  journey,  probably  trans- 
porting all  their  goods  in  wagons,  and  accompanied 
by  their  little  herds.  This  must  have  been  a  de- 
lightful journey  through  a  beautiful  country,  a  per- 
petual picnic  of  camps  by  the  wayside.  They  settled 
finally  near  a  little  river  called  the  South  Yadkin  in 
the  western  part  of  North  Carolina. 

This  was  then  a  region  wild  enough  and  rugged 
enough  to  suit  any  spirit  of  adventure.  Here  Daniel 
grew  up  in  his  father's  house.  There  was  an  im- 
mense labour  to  be  performed  in  building,  in  clearing, 
and  in  planting;  and  here  he  rounded  out,  brought  to 
perfection,  the  education  so  well  begun.  His  time  was 
divided  between  being  a  farmer  and  being  a  hunter; 

40 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  41 

with,  however,  considerable  emphasis  on  the  latter. 
Plenty  of  good  farmers  were  to  be  had,  but  very  few 
hunters  as  crafty,  as  well-informed,  and  as  successful 
as  Boone.  To  him  was  confided  a  great  deal  of  the 
business  of  hunting,  the  procuring  of  the  meat 
supply,  for  the  rest  of  the  family  realized  that  from 
a  given  expenditure  of  powder,  lead,  and  time  Daniel 
could  produce  better  results  than  any  two  of  them. 
And  results  were  what  they  must  have.  Sport  came 
second.  As  Daniel  had  a  true  passion  for  hunting, 
everybody  was  satisfied  and  happy. 

In  due  time  other  families  moved  into  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Among  them  were  the  Bryans.  Within  a 
brief  period  Daniel  met  Rebecca  Bryan,  and  within 
briefer  period  after  that  they  were  married. 

The  wedding  was  typical  of  the  day.  People  came 
from  many  miles,  sometimes  in  vehicles,  but  more 
generally  on  horseback.  Some  had  crude  saddles  of 
a  sort,  but  many  rode  quite  simply  with  blanket  and 
surcingle,  the  women  sitting  behind  and  clinging  tight 
to  the  men's  waists.  Everybody  was  out  for  a  good 
time.  The  practical  joker  was  in  his  element.  The 
"road,"  which  was  most  often  a  narrow  trail  through 
the  mountain  forests,  they  blocked  by  trees  felled 
across  it,  so  that  the  travellers  had  either  to  jump, 
to  make  long  detours,  or  to  do  a  little  axe  work.  They 
tied  vines  across  at  a  good  height  to  knock  oflt  a  hat. 


42  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

That  does  not  sound  like  much  fun,  but  you  must 
remember  there  were  plenty  of  girls  there;  and  every- 
body could  show  off,  and  help  them  over  the  logs, 
and  disentangle  them  from  the  vines,  and  generally 
skylark  about.  Sometimes  the  jokers  would  make 
a  mock  ambuscade,  and  there  would  be  much  firing  of 
blank  charges,  and  shrieks  from  the  girls  who  would 
be  .so  scared  that  thoughtlessly  they  would  cling  tight 
to  their  cavaliers. 

After  the  wedding  ceremony  there  was  a  grand 
feast  of  beef,  pork,  fowls,  venison,  wild  turkey,  bear 
meat,  potatoes,  cabbages,  and  corn  bread.  Then 
they  danced  square  dances  and  reels  on  the  punch- 
eon floor  to  the  squeaking  of  a  fiddle. 

The  young  couple  moved  farther  back  into  the 
wilderness,  nearer  the  mountain,  and  built  them- 
selves their  home.  The  neighbours,  of  course,  helped 
when  cooperation  was  necessary.  They  called  these 
occasions  "raisings."  After  Boone  had  cut  and 
trimmed  the  logs  for  his  house,  then  his  friends 
gathered  w  ith  their  wives  and  other  womenfolk  and 
bringing  their  horses  and  axes.  They  notched  the 
logs,  laid  the  mudsills,  erected  the  frame  of  the 
house,  hauling  the  logs  up  on  skidways  to  their 
places.  The  horses  strained,  the  axes  rang,  the 
yellow  chips  flew,  the  men  shouted.  And  over  in 
the  maple  grove  the  women  had  fires  going  and  pots 


Daniel  Booiie:   Wilderness  Scout  43 

bubbling,  so  that  when  dinner  time  came  another 
feast  was  under  way,  with  the  squeaky  fiddle  not  far 
off  before  they  turned  in  under  the  open  sky.  In 
this  manner  the  house  and  the  barns  and  the  corn- 
crib  went  up  like  magic,  so  that  when  these  neigh- 
bours, shouting  their  good-byes,  trooped  away  down 
the  forest  aisles  the  Boones  had  only  to  chink  and 
roof  their  new  habitations  before  moving  in. 

A  great  deal  of  frontier  work  was  done  in  this 
fashion.  It  was  much  more  efficient,  and  loads  more 
fun,  to  get  together.  There  were  "  log  rollings  "  when 
the  trees  that  had  been  felled  to  make  the  clearing 
were  rolled  off  to  the  edge  of  the  forest;  and  "quilt- 
ings"  when  the  women  sewed  together  thousands  of 
scraps  to  make  crazy-quilts.  When  the  corn  crops 
had  all  been  gathered  and  housed,  they  assembled  at 
"husking  bees."  They  stripped  the  husks  and  flung 
the  yellow  ears  aside  to  the  tune  of  laughter  and 
again  that  squeaky  fiddle.  If  a  girl  uncovered  a  red 
ear  of  the  corn  she  must  be  kissed  by  the  nearest 
young  man.  So  it  was  with  much  of  the  similar  work. 
Each  man  did  his  own  job;  but  also  he  helped  do  his 
neighbour's,  and  his  neighbour  in  turn  helped  him. 
Tasks  that  would  have  been  interminable,  lonesome, 
and  tiresome,  thus  became  pleasant. 

As  the  years  went  on  the  little  valley  of  the  Yad- 
kin slowly  became  settled.     The  smoke  from  Boone's 


44  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

cabin  was  not  the  only  one  that  rose  against  the 
mountain.  As  his  neighbours  crowded  closer  it  be- 
came necessary  to  set  boundaries  and  limits  to  his 
fields.     He  began  to  need  elbow  room. 

v'^ome  people  have  written  that  Boone  w^as  a  mis- 
anthrope, hating  his  fellow-beings  and  the  world. 
Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  The  writ- 
ings of  those  who  knew  him  are  filled  with  his  kind- 
liness, his  neighbourliness,  his  charity  and  wisdom 
in  his  dealings  with  men.  But  his  was  the  pioneer 
spirit.  He  was  interested  in  things  as  long  as  they 
were  under  construction;  but  he  lost  all  interest  in 
them  when  they  were  finished  and  ready  to  be  en- 
joyed. *' Something  hid  behind  the  ranges"  was 
always  whispering  to  him. 

And  "something  hid  behind  the  ranges"  was  in 
this  case  no  mere  figure  of  speech.  All  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  had  been  to  the  east 
of  the  Alleghanies,  and  had  stopped  short  when  that 
rampart  was  encountered.  Concerning  unexplored 
country  that  lay  beyond,  the  wildest  stories  were 
told.  As  one  little  sample:  it  was  told,  and  believed, 
that  in  that  land  there  were  snakes  with  horns  on 
the  end  of  their  tails,  which  they  used  as  weapons. 
One  of  these  horns,  stuck  into  a  tree,  no  matter  how 
big,  blasted  it  at  once!  No  one  knew  the  truth  of 
them,  for  none  could  speak  at  first  hand.     There 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  45 

were  the  dark  blue  mountains,  and  their  skyline  lay 
sharp  against  the  sunset,  but  on  what  the  last  rays 
were  looking  when  they  sank  below  this  unknown 
world  no  man  could  say. 

Out  from  secret  paths  occasionally  came  small 
parties  of  Indians  bent  on  trade  or  sightseeing.  They 
spoke  of  noble  rivers,  deep  forests,  wide  plains,  abun- 
dant game.  But  they  spoke  of  it  also,  and  fiercely, 
as  a  *'dark  and  bloody  ground,"  that  no  tribe  owned 
or  inhabited,  but  in  which  all  tribes  hunted  and  made 
war;  a  country  of  perils,  of  certain  death,  or  cap- 
tivity that  would  never  end.  What  hope  had  the 
white  man,  no  matter  how  bold  and  self-rehant,  to 
cross  the  labyrinth  of  pathless  and  frowning  ranges, 
to  thread  these  great  forests,  to  escape  or  make  head 
against  the  hordes  of  fierce  beasts  and  fiercer  savages 
that  there  roamed.^  Only  a  very  strong  expedition 
would  seem  to  have  any  chance  at  all;  and  by  what 
means,  by  what  road,  could  a  strong  party  get  there; 
and  how  maintain  itself  when  arrived.^  The  fore- 
most minds  of  the  day  realized  that  there  lay  the 
country  of  the  future,  but  the  time  was  not  yet. 

Nevertheless  there  it  lay,  an  ever-present  lure  to 
the  soul  of  adventure.  We  can  imagine  many  hardy 
men,  like  Boone,  smoking  their  after-supper  pipes 
before  the  doors  of  their  cabins,  looking  upon  that 
gilded  skyline  with  longing  and  speculative  eye. 


46  Dayiiel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

It  was  a  theme  of  never-ending  discussion  around 
the  winter  fires.  No  story  concerning  it  was  too  wild 
or  too  absurd.  A  legend,  a  formidable  legend,  grew 
up  about  it,  its  dangers,  its  beauties,  the  fertility  of 
its  soil,  the  brilliance  of  its  birds,  the  swarms  of 
its  game,  the  deadliness  of  its  perils. 

To  such  a  man  as  Boone  this  legend  could  not  fail 
to  have  a  strong  appeal.  The  appeal  was  strength- 
ened not  only  by  the  crowding  settlement  of  the 
Yadkin  valley,  but  by  the  fact  that  at  this  time 
the  exactions  and  abuses  of  the  officers  of  the  law  be- 
came very  oppressive.  The  governors  sent  out  from 
Enghmd  to  administer  the  colonies  were  all  of  the 
aristocratic  class,  trained  in  the  traditions  of  that 
class,  fond  of  show  and  luxury,  and  inclined  to  ap- 
point men  of  their  own  ilk  for  the  lesser  offices.  By 
the  time  that  spirit  had  filtered  down  to  the  outlying 
settlements  it  had  become  petty.  Fees  were  charged 
by  these  lawyers  and  court  officials  for  the  most 
trivial  of  daily  business:  one  man  sued  another  at  the 
slightest  provocation,  being  urged  thereto  by  these 
same  officials,  who  would  profit  by  it;  and  you  may 
be  sure  the  litigation  was  not  permitted  to  die.  The 
settlers,  with  increasing  ease,  began  to  rival  each 
other  in  show  and  ornament.  To  a  great  extent  the 
old  intimate  friendliness  of  a  common  danger  and  a 
common  privation   shared   was   giving  way  to  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  47 

more  complicated  relationships  of  society.  All  this 
irked  Boone.  He  was  a  man  of  simple  friendliness, 
simple  but  true  justice,  a  hearty  despiser  of  scheming 
or  cunning.  And,  strangely  enough,  in  spite  of  his 
long  record  of  warfare  later,  he  was  a  man  of  peace; 
preferring,  in  spite  of  a  sociable  nature,  solitude  to 
the  wild  wr anglings  about  him.  But  he  was  a  proper 
pacifist  in  that  he  would  fight  for  his  own  right  to  be 
peaceful ! 

These  considerations,  strongly  re  enforced  by  his 
adventurous  spirit  and  his  love  of  hunting,  were 
working  him  toward  a  climax  of  resolve.  The  "  some- 
thing hid  behind  the  ranges"  was  calling  him  louder 
and  louder.  He  might  have  gone,  irresponsibly,  at 
any  time,  for  he  was  bold  and  enterprising;  but  he 
was  not  longing  for  a  mere  hunting  trip.  Somewhere 
in  that  vast  wilderness  must  be  a  place  where  men 
could  live  again  in  peace  with  each  other;  in  the 
simplicity  of  the  early  days.  But  not  just  yet,  in  the 
cares  of  family  life  and  making  a  living,  did  the  vision 
form  to  him  as  of  "one  ordained  by  God  to  open  a 
wilderness  to  a  people." 


CHAPTER  V 

^T  THIS  precise  moment  there  drifted  into  the 
/\  valley  of  the  Yadkin  a  man  named  John 
-^  ^  Finley  who  had  actually  been  over  the 
mountains  and  had  come  back  to  tell  the  tale!  He 
was  a  bachelor  without  ties,  and  he  and  a  number  of 
others  like  him  had  formed  a  hunting  party  and  had 
traversed  a  portion  of  what  is  now  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  They,  like  the  other  wandering  hunters 
and  trappers  of  this  and  other  far  countries,  were 
primarily  adventurers,  out  for  new  game  fields,  prac- 
tical men  who  wanted  meat  and  furs;  and  they  had 
no  interest  at  all  in  the  possibilities  of  the  country 
for  settlement.  The  Indians,  ignorant  as  yet  that 
such  little  advance  parties  would  mean  to  their 
country  what  the  white  man  had  meant  to  the 
Atlantic  seaboard,  disdained  to  attack  them. 

They  returned  and  you  may  be  sure  that  in  every 
cabin,  in  every  crossroads  store,  their  tales  and 
descriptions  were  listened  to  with  the  greatest 
eagerness.  They  had  been  in  a  country  concerning 
which  men's  wonder  had  long  been  exercised.  Before, 
in  the  language  of  Judge  Marshall,  "the  country  be- 

48 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  49 

yond  the  Cumberland  mountain  still  appeared  to  the 
generality  of  the  people  of  Virginia  almost  as  ob- 
scure and  doubtful  as  America  itself  to  the  people  of 
Europe  before  the  voyage  of  Columbus.  A  country 
there  was — of  this  none  could  doubt;  but  whether 
land  or  water,  mountain  or  plain,  fertility  or  barren- 
ness predominated;  whether  inhabited  by  men  or 
beasts,  or  both,  or  neither,  they  knew  not." 

Now  Finley  and  his  friends  could  resolve  some  of 
these  doubts.  And  you  may  be  certain  that  Boone 
was  one  of  his  most  eager  listeners.  Indeed  it  is 
related  that  he  took  Finley  with  him  to  his  cabin,  and 
there  kept  him  for  some  months  as  guest,  while  each 
evening  he  listened  to  the  hunter's  glowing  tales. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  not  the  custom  of  these  men 
to  leap  at  things  rashly.  They  believed  Finley's  stor- 
ies of  the  richness  and  attractions  of  the  country  and 
the  abundance  of  the  game;  but  they  knew  also,  by 
sad  experience,  the  great  power  of  the  Indian.  Any 
party  of  settlers,  with  the  mountains  between  them- 
selves and  the  settlements,  would  have  to  shift 
entirely  for  itself;  and  then  would  depend  for  its  very 
life  on  the  numbers  and  ferocity  of  the  savages.  They 
knew  that  while  Finley  and  his  party  had  come 
through,  their  safety  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
were  the  first  to  cross  the  mountains  and  the  Indians 
they  had  encountered  had  not  known  what  to  do. 


50  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

We  will  discuss  later  the  Indian  of  that  day,  but  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  here  that  he  was  not  individually 
inclined  to  be  unfriendly.  Matters  of  personal  re- 
venge, or  matters  of  tribal  policy  made  him  hostile. 
But  by  now  the  news  that  at  last  the  first  white  men 
had  crossed  the  mountains  from  the  east  would  have 
spread  through  all  the  tribes.  The  elders  and 
the  wise  men  would  have  heard  of  it.  And  these 
elders  and  wise  men,  of  the  most  intelligent  of  our 
Indians,  would  have  had  time  to  think  the  thing  over. 
They  could  not  fail  to  perceive  that  a  little  beginning 
would  end  inevitably  in  the  settlement  of  the  w^hole 
country-.  They  had  seen  that  happen  many  times 
before.  So  it  was  extremely  unlikely  that  a  second 
[)arty,  even  of  hunters,  would  be  permitted  without 
pretty  careful  scrutiny;  w^hile  an  expedition  of  set- 
tlers would  take  the  gravest  risks.  To  the  Indian 
intelligence  the  stray  hunters  and  especially  the 
traders  from  the  north  and  northeast  were  of  differ- 
ent portent. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  Boone  cabin  it  was  resolved 
that,  if  possible,  a  party  of  men  should  be  formed  to 
visit  the  new  land  under  the  guidance  of  John  Finley. 
They  were  to  explore,  to  spy  out  the  possibilities  for 
settlement,  to  estimate  the  risks.  Then  they  would 
return;  and,  if  it  seemed  wise,  organize  an  expedition 
of  settlers.     Incidentally,  they  would  hunt  and  trap. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  51 

and  the  peltries  would  pay  them  for  their  time  and 
trouble.  Rebecca  Boone  listened  to  these  plans  and 
approved.  Her  sons  were  by  now  old  enough  to 
take  their  share  of  the  work;  and  she  was  a  true  fron- 
tiersman's wife,  ready  to  do  her  part. 

After  much  discussion  four  other  men  were  in- 
vited. They  were  John  Stuart,  Joseph  Holden, 
James  Murray,  and  William  Cool; all  steady,  courage- 
ous men,  and  graduates  of  the  great  school  of  wood- 
craft we  have  described. 

They  started  on  the  first  of  May,  1769,  selecting 
a  date  when  the  weather  was  most  likely  to  be  good. 
Since  the  routes  were  unknown,  they  went  afoot  in- 
stead of  horseback,  as  was  the  custom  ordinarily. 
*' Their  dress,"  says  Peck,  "was  of  the  description 
usually  worn  at  that  period  by  all  forest  rangers. 
The  outside  garment  was  a  hunting  shirt,  or  loose 
open  frock,  made  of  dressed  deerskins.  Leggins  or 
drawers  of  the  same  material  covered  the  lower  ex- 
tremities, to  which  was  appended  a  pair  of  moccasins 
for  the  feet.  The  cape  or  collar  of  the  hunting  shirt 
and  the  seams  of  the  leggins  were  adorned  with 
fringes.     The  undergarments  were  of  coarse  cotton." 

They  wore  leather  belts,  with  the  buckles  in  the 
rear  both  to  avoid  ghtter  and  catching  in  the  brush. 
The  tomahawk  was  slung  on  the  right  side  of  the  belt. 
The  bullet,  or  "shot,"  pouch  was  swung  on  a  strap 


5^2  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

over  the  left  shoulder  and  hung  on  the  right  side,  the 
powder  liorn  immediately  above  it.  The  knife  was 
in  the  belt  on  the  left  side.  Each  man  carried  also 
a  small  pack  containing  extras,  chiefly  powder  and 
lead.  They  had  little  in  the  way  of  bedding,  no 
extra  clothes,  no  shelters,  almost  no  food,  none  of  the 
things  we  take  when  we  think  we  are  "roughing  it" 
severely.  The  wilderness  was  to  be  their  home,  and 
from  the  wilderness  they  must  take  all  they  needed. 
If  it  rained,  they  must  contrive  a  shelter  from  the 
materials  at  hand,  or  else  go  wet.  If  they  became 
hungry,  the  wilderness  must  supply  them  food. 

They  attacked  the  journey  boldly,  and  were  al- 
most at  once  cursed  with  bad  weather.  All  day  they 
had  to  travel  in  the  rain,  through  wet  brush  that 
soaked  them  even  more  thoroughly  than  mere  rain 
could  ever  do.  Near  nightfall  they  made  their  camp. 
For  this  they  selected  a  big  down-log  on  a  flat  space, 
cleared  out  in  front  of  it,  set  upright  forked  poles 
with  a  cross  pole  seven  or  eight  feet  from  the  logs; 
laid  other  poles  from  the  cross  pole  over  to  the  log: 
on  them  placed  bark  or  skins  or  anything  handy  that 
would  shed  water,  and  so  became  possessed  of  a 
lean-to  shelter  that  would  keep  out  the  rain.  The 
l)ig  down-log  was  the  back  wall,  the  height  of  the 
forked  poles  in  front  determined  the  slant  of  the  roof, 
and  that  was  arranged  not  only  best  to  shed  the  rain, 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  53 

but  also  most  effectively  to  reflect  down  the  heat 
from  the  fire.  Both  in  the  location  of  the  fire  and 
in  the  building  of  it  they  took  the  greatest  pains. 
Camp  was  always  placed  in  a  secluded  hollow,  or  in 
a  thicket  whence,  under  the  most  careful  scrutiny,  no 
gleam  of  light  could  escape.  When  in  imminent 
danger  of  Indians  sometimes  no  fire  at  all  would  be 
made,  and  the  men  would  lie  close  to  each  other 
for  the  sake  of  warmth,  but  as  they  had  almost  no 
blankets  at  all,  this  was  avoided  whenever  possible. 
The  fire  was  urgently  needed,  not  only  for  warmth 
and  for  cooking,  but  also  to  dry  out  daily  their  sodden 
belongings.  From  the  slanting  roof  the  heat  re- 
flected downward .  It  is  astonishing  how  comfortable 
one  can  be  in  these  circumstances  even  in  the  coldest 
weather  and  with  but  a  single  blanket. 

However,  it  did  not  rain  all  the  time.  One  month 
and  seven  days  after  they  had  left  the  valley  of  the 
Yadkin,  late  in  the  afternoon,  they  struggled  up  the 
last  ascents  of  the  formidable  moimtains  and  looked 
ahead  to  the  west.  The  skyline  of  a  hill  has  ever  a 
remarkable  fascination:  always  one  is  eager  to  see 
what  lies  beyond,  and  almost  invariably  one  hastens 
his  steps  as  he  nears  the  point  where  he  can  see. 
Imagine  the  eagerness  of  these  men  who  were  at  last, 
after  five  weeks  of  hard  travel,  to  look  upon  a  new 
and  strange  land! 


54  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

They  had  come  out  opposite  one  of  the  headwaters 
of  the  Kentucky  River.  Immediately  at  their  feet, 
of  course,  rolled  the  billows  of  the  lesser  ranges  and 
of  the  foothills,  but  creeping  out  from  that  and  rising 
to  the  horizon  opposite  their  eyes  lay  a  rich  and  beau- 
tiful country  of  forests  and  openings,  of  low  hills  and 
vales,  and  a  vast  level  plain.  The  details  were  lost  in 
the  golden  mist  of  evening,  but  enough  could  be  seen 
to  justify  Finley's  tales.  Long  they  stood,  leaning 
on  their  rifles,  gazing  in  a  muse  of  speculation  or 
anticipation  each  after  his  desires.  Perhaps  it  was 
from  this  high  point  that  Boone  received  his  inspira- 
tion that  he  was  ordained  by  God  to  open  an  empire 
to  a  people. 

They  camped  that  night  in  a  ravine  that  headed 
near  by.  Early  next  morning  they  descended  ex- 
citedly to  the  lower  country  below. 

What  they  found  exceeded  their  wildest  expecta- 
tions. As  hunters  they  were  most  of  all  interested 
in  the  game.  Turkeys  were  so  numerous  that 
Boone  later  described  them  as  being  like  one  vast 
flock  through  the  whole  forest.  Deer  were  in  herds. 
Elk  roamed  the  woodlands.  Bear  were,  next  to  deer, 
the  most  numerous  of  all.  But  the  buffalo  amazed 
them  most.  As  our  party  descended  the  mountains 
they  became  aware  of  a  dull,  continuous  rumbling 
sound  that  puzzled  them  greatly.     They  found  that 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  55 

this  sound  came  from  the  trampling  of  innumerable 
buffalo.  "We  found  everywhere  abundance  of  wild 
beasts  of  all  sorts,"  said  Boone  himself.  "The  buffalo 
were  more  frequent  than  I  have  seen  cattle  in  the 
settlements:  sometimes  we  saw  hundreds  in  a  drove, 
and  the  numbers  about  the  salt  springs  were  amaz- 
ing." 

They  picked  a  site  on  the  Red  River,  built  them- 
selves a  small  rude  cabin,  and  proceeded  to  hunt  and 
explore  the  country. 

From  the  first  of  May  until  the  twenty -second  of 
December  they  roamed  without  seeing  even  an  in- 
dication of  Indians.  iVll  this  region  was  claimed  by 
Cherokee  and  Shawanese,  but  with  none  too  good  a 
title.  As  a  significant  fact  no  Indians  at  all  inhabited 
it.  Their  villages  were  many  days'  journey  distant, 
and  they  themselves  visited  it  only  on  hunting  or  war 
parties.  This  fact  made  it  a  continual  battleground 
when  enemies  were  encountered.  Whenever  villages 
were  near  at  hand,  the  Indians  had  either  to  keep 
peaceful  or  to  go  to  war  in  good  earnest;  for  their 
homes  lay  open  to  reprisals.  But  if  those  homes  were 
so  far  away  as  to  require  a  long  journey  before  a 
counter  blow  could  be  struck,  the  smallest  parties 
could  get  up  little  wars  of  their  own. 

The  bales  of  peltries  grew  in  number.  All  through 
the  summer  the  hunters  lived  literally  on  the  fat  of 


56  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  land.  Kentucky  before  the  days  of  cultivation 
was  as  fertile,  though  in  a  different  way,  as  she  is  now. 
The  forests  were  high  and  beautiful  with  flowers  and 
vines  and  birds;  the  canebrakes  luxuriated;  the 
plains  were  sweet  with  clover;  the  open  woods  were 
like  orchards  carpeted  with  grass.  Everywhere  the 
game  roamed.  His  companions  would  have  been 
content  to  hunt  close  about  the  little  cabin,  for 
the  game  was  as  abundant  there  as  farther  afield, 
but  Boone  had  other  things  in  view  besides  hunting. 
He  wanted  to  see  what  the  country  was  like.  Always 
in  the  back  of  his  mind  was  the  thought  that  some 
day  he  would  be  returning  with  his  family,  at  the 
head  of  an  expedition  of  settlers.  He  wanted  to 
examine  for  himself  the  possibilities.  Ever  in  view 
he  kept  the  requisites  of  what  he  sought.  For  a 
good  location  in  those  days  he  needed  to  find  a  gently 
sloping  swell  of  land  on  which  thickly  growing  cane, 
pawpaws,  and  clover  indicated  good  soil.  The  trees 
round  about  must  be  abundant  enough  for  building 
purposes,  but  should  stand  sparsely  enough,  and  free 
enough  from  underbrush  so  that  a  man  could  ride 
horseback  through  them  at  least  at  half  speed.  A 
grove  of  sugar  maples  should  grow  not  too  far  away; 
and  a  salt  lick  was  desirable.  Salt  did  not  come  in 
cartons  then,  but  had  to  be  boiled  from  the  water 
of  salt  springs.     An  ideal  site  should  have  a  good 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  57 

limestone  spring  so  located  that  it  could  be  enclosed 
within  the  stockade  walls;  but  this  was  not  absolutely 
essential.  Many  writers  wonder  why  forts  were  ever 
built  without  enclosing  springs  and  they  point  out 
several  celebrated  instances  where  the  besieged  in- 
mates were  starved  for  water.  At  first  thought  it 
would  seem  essential;  but  these  men  were  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  Indian  character.  An  Indian 
siege  rarely  lasted  longer  than  a  day  or  two  at  most, 
and  ample  reservoirs  were  supposed  to  be  kept  filled 
for  such  emergencies:  though  sometimes  people  got 
careless  through  long  immunity  and  neglected  to  fill 
them.  It  was  very  diflScult  to  find  sites  suitable  in 
other  ways  and  also  possessing  such  springs. 

In  this  prolonged  wandering  they  had  many  ad- 
ventures. One  of  the  most  exciting  occurred  one 
day  as  they  were  crossing  an  open  plain  and  en- 
countered a  great  horde  of  buffalo.  The  animals 
were  frightened  by  something  and  came  thundering 
down  in  a  dense  mass  directly  toward  the  little 
group  of  hunters.  To  the  ^ve  newcomers  there 
seemed  to  be  no  escape;  but  Finley,  who  knew  some- 
thing of  these  animals,  with  great  coolness  shot  one 
of  the  leaders  dead.  Like  a  stream  about  a  rock 
the  rushing  herd  divided  around  the  dead  buffalo, 
only  to  close  in  again  as  the  pressure  forced  them  to- 
gether.   But  as  that  did  not  happen  immediately 


58  Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout 

a  narrow  clear  space  was  left,  and  into  the  centre 
of  this  our  hunters  immediately  advanced.  There 
they  stood  while,  w^ith  a  thunder  of  hoofs  and  a 
cloud  of  dust,  the  fear-crazy  animals  swept  by. 

The  continued  absence  of  any  sign  of  a  foe  at  last 
lulled  them  to  a  feeling  of  sufficient  security  so  that 
they  divided  into  pairs  for  their  hunting  trips  in- 
stead of  all  six  staying  together  as  heretofore. 
Everything  went  well  until  December  twenty-second. 
On  that  date  Boone  and  Stuart  were  hunting  in  the 
canebrake  country.  This  was  so  thickly  grown 
that  it  could  be  penetrated  only  by  means  of  the 
buffalo  trails;  or  streets  as  they  were  called  because 
of  their  breadth.  Some  of  these  streets  had  been 
used  for  years  and  years.  This  type  of  country  was 
especially  adapted  to  ambuscade,  and  it  is  extremely 
probable  that  Boone  and  his  companion  would  not 
have  ventured  into  it  had  they  had  any  intimation 
that  Indians  ever  visited  that  part  of  the  world. 
However,  just  as  they  were  surmounting  a  little 
hill,  a  large  party  of  Indians  rushed  on  them  so 
suddenly  that  they  had  no  chance  even  to  throw  up 
their  rifles  for  a  shot. 

It  is  the  universal  testimony  that  no  circum- 
stances ever  ruffled  Boone's  temper  or  judgment. 
He  submitted  with  apparent  good  humour,  and  ad- 
vised Stuart  to   do   the   same.     The  whole  party 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  59 

started  off  at  a  rapid  gait  through  the  forest.  Boone 
knew  the  Indian  character  well.  He  was  perfectly 
aware  that  only  a  fearless  bearing,  an  apparent 
contentment  with  his  lot,  and  complete  patience 
would  help  him.  Even  in  later  days,  when  warfare 
between  white  and  red  became  embittered,  and  when 
he  himself  had  acquired  reputation  with  the  Indians 
of  being  a  formidable  enemy,  Boone  seemed  always 
to  command  an  enormous  respect  from  and  influence 
over  them.  For  all  their  ferocity  in  war,  the  In- 
dians of  that  day  and  place  responded  readily  to 
fair  treatment  or  generous  nature.  ^  Boone  fought 
Indians  all  his  life,  but  he  never  hated  Indians.  He 
understood  their  minds  thoroughly,  possessing  the 
rare  faculty  of  being  able  to  take  fully  their  point 
of  view  and  to  know  what  was  going  on  in  their 
thoughts.  He  must,  too,  have  been  an  actor  of 
considerable  ability,  for  in  his  various  captivities  he 
never  seems  to  have  failed  to  impress  the  savages 
with  the  apparent  sincerity  of  his  desire  to  become 
one  of  them.  That  was  always  his  first  move 
toward  escape;  the  building  up  of  the  idea  that  he 
was  contented  with  his  lot,  that  he  was  on  the  whole 
rather  glad  to  have  been  captured,  that  he  intended 
to  become  a  member  of  the  tribe  and  to  settle  down 
contentedly  with  them.  Somehow,  as  we  shall  see, 
he  always  did  manage  to  avoid  death,  even  when 


60  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  Indians  were  killing  all  their  other  captives;  and 
he  always  did  manage  eventually  to  escape.  The 
former  was  probably  to  a  great  extent  due  to  the 
placidity,  the  courage,  and  the  unruffled  benevo- 
lence of  his  character;  the  latter  to  his  great  patience, 
for  he  never  tried  to  get  away  until  the  time  seemed 
ripe.  An  unsuccessful  effort  to  escape  was  certain 
death.  The  Indians  looked  upon  it  as  a  breach  of 
hospitality,  a  bitter  offence,  that  a  captive  they  had 
treated  kindly  should  make  such  an  attempt. 

Therefore  Boone,  and  on  his  advice  Stuart,  went 
with  their  captors  cheerfully.  So  well  did  he  in- 
gratiate himself  in  every  way  that  the  savages  were 
fully  convinced  that  he  really  wanted  to  become  a 
member  of  their  tribe;  and  promised  to  adopt  him. 
At  first  guards  were  set  over  the  white  men  every 
night,  but  by  the  seventh  day  their  suspicions  were 
so  far  lulled  that  they  dispensed  with  that  protec- 
tion. It  is  evident  that  this  was  a  hunting  party, 
and  not  a  war  party  out  for  scalps  and  prisoners, 
or  the  white  men  would  have  been  better  guarded. 
They  had  been  picked  up  in  passing.  On  this 
night  the  guards  for  the  first  time  were  omitted, 
though  Boone  and  his  friend  were  each  made  to  lie 
down  between  two  Indians.  Stuart  promptly  fell 
asleep,  for  he  was  depending  on  Boone  to  judge  the 
right  time.     About  midnight,  when  the  fires  were 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  61 

flickering  low,  the  night  at  its  darkest,  and  the 
Indians  sleeping  most  soundly  after  an  especial  feed 
of  roasted  buffalo  meat,  Boone  cautiously  raised 
himself  on  his  elbow.  An  Indian  stirred;  he  dropped 
prone  again.  The  second  attempt  was  more  for- 
tunate. He  touched  Stuart,  who  was  instantly 
broad  awake.  The  two  men  rose  by  inches;  by 
inches  moved  across  the  little  camp.  The  Indians 
were  lying  all  about  them,  men  accustomed  to 
midnight  alarms  sleeping  "with  one  eye  open,'* 
alert  to  spring  to  wakefulness  at  the  slightest  sound. 
The  breaking  of  a  twig,  even  the  sudden  rustling  of  a 
leaf,  would  have  been  enough  to  bring  them  to  their 
feet,  tomahawk  in  hand.  But  the  two  managed  it, 
they  succeeded  even  in  regaining  their  rifles  and 
equipment;  and  once  outside  the  circle  of  the  firelight 
they  made  their  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  back  to 
their  camp.  There  is  no  record  of  their  being  pursued, 
as  they  would  certainly  have  been  had  this  been  a 
war  party.  Probably  their  escape  was  not  discovered 
for  some  time,  and  it  was  considered  too  much  trou- 
ble to  back  track  on  a  long  and  laborious  pursuit. 

But  when  they  reached  the  cabin  they  found  it 
ransacked  and  their  companions  gone.  All  the  pel- 
tries, result  of  eight  months'  work,  had  been  stolen. 
Their  four  companions,  including  Finley  himself, 
were  never  heard  of  again.     They  may  have  been 


62  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

killed  or  carried  off  by  the  Indians  who  plundered  the 
camp;  but  if  so  nobody  ever  heard  of  it  in  later  years, 
and  as  a  usual  thing  such  victories  are  boasted  of  by 
the  Indians.  They  may  have  perished  in  the  wilder- 
ness, attempting  to  regain  civilization.  No  one 
knows.  One  account  purports  to  tell  of  their  return 
to  civilization;  but  I  have  been  unable  with  the 
documents  at  my  command  to  trace  it.  It  would 
seem  that  such  a  return  would  have  brought  the 
news  of  Boone's  capture,  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  known. 

Most  men  after  such  an  experience  would  have 
themselves  given  it  up  as  a  bad  job;  but  Boone  and 
Stuart,  instead  of  being  discouraged,  resolved  grimly 
to  start  all  over  again.  They  could  not  afford  to 
return  empty  handed;  for  in  order  to  make  this  jour- 
ney they  had  gone  into  debt.  They  built  themselves 
a  small  hut  in  another  and  more  secret  place,  and 
patiently  set  about  retrieving  their  fortunes. 

It  might  be  well  to  tell  you  here  that  the  main  ob- 
ject of  their  hunt  in  the  past  summer  had  been  deer- 
skins. The  pelts  of  the  fur-bearing  creatures  are  not 
good  at  that  time  of  year,  but  buckskin  is  always 
in  season.  Roughly  dressed  deerskins  were  worth 
about  a  dollar  each  and  a  horse  could  carry  about  a 
hundred  of  them.  You  must  remember  a  dollar 
then  was  worth  many  of  our  dollars  now.     In  winter 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  63 

beaver  and  other  pelts  could  be  had,  worth  from  three 
to  five  dollars.  Buffalo  hides,  bearskins,  and  elk  hides 
were  fine  for  bedding  and  warmth  in  camp,  but  they 
were  too  bulky  to  carry  long  distances.  The  deer 
season  was  over,  but  beavers  and  others  were  coming 
in,  and  the  hunters  could  now  profitably  turn  them- 
selves into  trappers. 

Their  outlook  was  none  too  rosy.  Ammunition 
was  by  now  getting  very  low.  The  Indians  had  at 
last  shown  themselves,  and  were  known  to  be  abroad 
in  the  country.  Fortunately  the  fur-bearing  animals 
they  were  now  to  take  would  be  captured  by  traps, 
so  they  could  save  their  precious  powder  and  lead 
for  food  and  defence. 

In  January  Boone  saw  in  the  distance  two  men  rid- 
ing through  the  woods.    He  hastily  concealed  himself. 

"Hullo,  strangers,  who  are  you.^"  he  called  at 
length,  as  he  saw  they  were  but  two. 

"White  men  and  friends,"  hastily  replied  the  new- 
comers. 

They  approached  and  Daniel,  to  his  great  joy, 
found  that  one  of  them  was  a  younger  brother,  Squire 
Boone.  Squire,  in  company  with  another  adventur- 
ous spirit  named  Neeley,  had  started  out  to  find  his 
brother,  and  had  succeeded ! 

This  was  at  once  an  admirable  piece  of  woods- 
manship  and  extraordinary  luck.     He  had  not  the 


64  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

slightest  idea  of  where  to  look:  he  just  started  out; 
and  his  journey  was  just  as  bold,  just  as  exploratory, 
just  as  indicative  of  highly  specialized  education  as 
that  of  his  older  brother  nearly  a  year  before.  In- 
deed it  was  even  more  courageous,  for  here  were  but 
two  men  where  had  been  six.  Many  writers  have  ex- 
pressed the  greatest  wonder  that  the  two  parties  en- 
countered at  all,  pointing  out  that  the  wilderness  is 
not  supplied  with  a  guide  book,  and  that  there  was 
no  one  from  whom  to  enquire.  It  was  indeed  good 
luck,  and  went  far  to  justify  Boone's  faith  in  his 
destiny;  but  to  a  woodsman  it  is  not  as  extraordinary 
as  would  at  first  appear.  Squire  undoubtedly  knew 
where  his  brother  had  started,  and  perhaps  his  route 
for  a  certain  distance.  In  a  mountain  district  the 
*'lay  of  the  land"  is  generally  so  strongly  marked 
that  the  best  route  and  the  best  passes  are  inevitable 
to  the  eye  of  a  trained  man  however  confusing  the 
choice  might  be  to  one  less  experienced.  So  Squire, 
having  started  right,  was  almost  forced  by  the 
common  sense  of  the  situation  to  follow  the  route 
taken  by  Daniel.  It  is  also  extremely  probable  that 
the  latter  had  marked  his  trail  for  future  reference, 
though  it  is  not  likely  that  he  blazed  it  plainly  to  his 
front  door.  That  would  be  asking  for  trouble,  and 
fairly  inviting  the  foe  to  visit  him. 

Squire  brought  with  him  ample  ammunition  and 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  65 

supplies.  The  four  men,  delighted  with  this  change 
in  luck,  took  up  their  hunting  again.  Daniel  and 
Stuart  held  together,  while  Squire  and  Neeley  struck 
partnership.  The  pairs  would  often  go  on  expedi- 
tions lasting  for  several  days  at  a  time,  visiting  wide- 
flung  trapping  routes,  or  exploring  new  country, 
which  was  as  you  may  imagine  a  never-failing  source 
of  delight.  During  these  expeditions  the  two  men 
in  turn  would  often  separate  for  the  day,  meeting  at 
sundown  at  some  agreed  spot  for  the  night's  camp. 
One  night  Stuart  did  not  appear.  Boone,  in  alarm, 
searched  the  forest.  He  found  at  length  traces  of  a 
fire  where  his  friend  had  spent  the  night  but  no 
sign  or  trail  of  the  man  himself.  Five  years  later  he 
came  across  Stuart's  bones  in  a  hollow  sycamore  tree. 
He  knew  them  for  Stuart's  because  of  the  name  cut 
on  the  powder  horn.  What  happened  has  always 
remained  a  mystery.  From  the  fact  that  the  bones 
were  in  a  hollow  tree,  it  is  likely  that  he  had  been 
wounded  badly  enough  to  die  while  in  hiding. 

At  any  rate,  this  mysterious  disappearance  fright- 
ened Neeley  so  badly  that  he  decided  he  would  start 
for  home,  which  he  did.  He  would  have  done  better 
to  have  taken  a  chance  with  the  brothers,  for  he  never 
was  heard  of  again:  unless  an  unidentified  skeleton 
found  years  later  may  have  been  his. 

Daniel  and  Squire  Boone  settled  down  to  mind  their 


66  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

traps  and  gain  enough  pelts  to  pay  their  debts.  They 
took  every  precaution  against  the  Indians;  and  suc- 
cessfully. A  new  cabin  was  constructed  in  a  more 
secret  place.  All  cooking  was  done  at  night,  so  no 
smoke  was  ever  visible.  The  trail  to  the  hiding- 
place  was  carefully  bhnded  by  all  the  devices  known 
to  them.  For  example,  part  of  the  approach  was 
made  by  walking  in  the  stream;  on  the  ground  the 
trail  often  turned  at  angles;  or  doubled  back  on  it- 
self so  that  apparently  it  led  nowhere.  When  possible 
it  was  taken  over  rocks  or  smooth  down  trees  that 
would  show  no  trace.  One  device  was  to  swing  on  the 
tough  hanging  wild-grape  vines.  Always,  when  any- 
where near  home,  the  footprints  were  painstakingly 
covered  with  leaves.  This  was  a  lot  of  trouble,  but 
these  men  were  protecting  their  lives,  and  no  trouble 
is  too  much  for  that. 

\^^len  spring  came  they  had  a  good  store  of  pelts, 
but  again  ammunition  was  running  low.  By  the 
flickering  little  fire,  carefully  guarded  and  screened, 
they  held  many  anxious  consultations.  They  might 
both  return,  and  as  Daniel  missed  keenly  his  wife  and 
children,  this  appealed  to  him  most.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  had  gone  deeply  in  debt  to  make 
possible  this  expedition.  Furthermore,  it  was  ex- 
tremely desirable,  if  later  he  was  to  settle  in  the  new 
land,  that  he  explore  it  farther  afield;  something  he 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  67 

had  been  unable  to  do  thoroughly  while  the  main  job 
was  hunting.  So  finally  it  was  agreed  that  Squire 
should  return  to  the  settlements  for  supplies,  and 
to  sell  the  skins,  while  Daniel  should  remain.  On 
May  first  Squire  started.  The  distance  was  five 
hundred  miles  of  howhng,  dangerous,  uncharted 
wilderness,  which  he  was  to  traverse  alone  and  bur- 
dened with  the  handicap  of  laden  pack  horses.  It  is 
hard  to  tell  whose  courage  most  to  admire:  that  of 
the  man  who  stayed,  or  that  of  the  man  who  went. 


CHAPTER  VI 

I  EFT  thus  alone  Boone  acknowledges  quite 
simply  that  he  "passed  a  few  days  uncom- 
-^  fortably."  "I  confess,"  said  he,  "I  never 
before  was  under  greater  necessity  of  exercising 
philosophy  and  fortitude.  A  few  days  I  passed  un- 
comfortably. The  idea  of  a  beloved  wife  and  family, 
and  their  anxiety  upon  the  account  of  my  absence  and 
exposed  situation,  made  a  sensible  impression  on  my 
heart."  In  another  place  he  says  that  he  was  "one 
by  myself — without  bread,  salt,  or  sugar — without 
company  of  any  fellow  creatures,  or  even  a  horse  or 
dog." 

But  he  soon  shook  off  this  depression.  Boone  was 
a  profound  lover  of  nature  and  of  her  beauties.  He 
"undertook  a  turn  through  the  country"  as  his 
stilted  amanuensis  makes  him  express  it,  "and  the 
diversities  and  beauties  of  nature  I  met  expelled 
every  gloomy  and  vexatious  thought."  As  ammuni- 
tion was  now  scarce  and  so,  except  for  food,  hunting 
was  impossible,  he  spent  his  time  in  exploring,  "for 
to  look  and  for  to  see."  There  was  no  object  in 
staying  near  the  little  cabin;  indeed  there  was  every 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  69 

reason  for  avoiding  it.  Alone  in  a  hostile  country, 
where  news  of  the  presence  of  these  white  men  had  by 
now  spread  to  all  the  tribes,  he  must  take  extra  pre- 
caution against  the  Indians.  He  changed  his  habi- 
tation frequently,  living  in  camps  of  bark  or  boughs, 
or  in  caves.  Even  in  such  temporary  quarters  he 
rarely  ventured  to  sleep,  retiring  some  distance  into 
the  thickets  and  dense  canebrakes  unless  the  weather 
was  very  bad.  It  was  a  hard  and  dangerous  life, 
but  it  had  its  compensations  in  the  thrill  of  solitary 
exploration,  the  dangers  avoided,  and  the  beauty  of 
the  new  country  whose  features  were  thus  discovered. 
Boone  wandered  far  over  the  thickly  forested  hills 
and  valleys,  the  wide  plains.  He  found  and  followed 
watercourses;  he  climbed  high  hills  to  look  abroad;  he 
revelled  in  the  flowers;  m  the  stately  and  beautiful 
trees  in  then-  great  variety— the  sugar  maples,  the 
honey  locusts,  the  catalpas,  the  pawpaws,  all  the 
hardwoods;  he  visited  the  mineral  springs  that  have 
since  become  famous,  Big  Lick,  Blue  Lick,  Big  Bone 
Lick,  where  he  must  have  looked  with  interest  and  awe 
on  the  remains  of  mastodons  down  and  perished  cen- 
turies before  when  they  had  come  to  the  hcks  for  salt. 
During  these  months  he  gamed  the  intimate  first-hand 
knowledge  of  the  whole  country  which  later  was  to 
prove  so  valuable  to  himself  and  to  others. 

The  only  person  who  could  have  told  all  the  details 


70  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

of  this  most  fascinating  solitary  sojourn  in  a  new  land 
was,  naturally,  Daniel  Boone  himself;  and  unfor- 
tunately he  has  not  told  much.  He  was  of  few  words. 
Seven  years  later  a  man  named  Filson  purported  to 
put  down  "in  Boone's  own  words"  an  account  of  the 
Hunter's  life;  but  the  words  were  Filson's,  and  Filson 
was  highflown,  not  to  say  elegant.  The  following  is 
his  idea  of  how  Boone  would  express  himself : 

"Just  at  the  close  of  day  the  gentle  gales  retired  and 
left  the  place  to  the  disposal  of  a  profound  calm. 
Not  a  breeze  shook  the  most  tremulous  leaf." 

Filson  had  the  advantage  of  getting  the  facts  from 
our  Hunter,  no  matter  how  fantastically  he  dressed 
them;  only  unfortunately  Boone  had  a  habit  of  pass- 
ing casually  over  a  five-hundred-mile  journey  full  of 
dangers,  difficulties,  and  escapes  with  the  statement, 
"I  returned  safe  to  my  own  habitation."  So  of  the 
many  things  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  of  this 
exploration  we  have  very  little.  We  can  never  know 
how  many  times  Boone  encountered  Indians,  nor  how 
many  times  he  managed  to  elude  them.  We  know 
that  once  he  met  a  large  band  near  the  Ohio  River, 
but  managed  to  keep  out  of  sight.  On  another  oc- 
casion he  came  upon  an  Indian  fishing  from  the  trunk 
of  a  fallen  tree.  Nobody  knows  the  circumstances; 
but  Boone,  in  telling  of  this  incident  later,  would  re- 
mark gravely  but  with  a  twinkle  deep  in  his  eyes: 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  71 

^  "While  I  was  looking  at  the  fellow  he  tumbled  into 
the  river  and  I  saw  him  no  more."  Boone  was  at 
that  moment,  in  all  likelihood,  "looking  at  the  fellow" 
over  the  sights  of  his  rifle!  Again,  while  he  was 
exploring  a  new  and  strange  river,  he  found  himself 
suddenly  faced  on  three  sides  by  his  enemies.  The 
fourth  side  was  a  precipice  sixty  feet  high.  Without 
a  moment's  hesitation  Boone  made  the  leap,  landed 
in  the  top  of  a  sugar  maple,  slid  down  the  trunk, 
ducked  down  below  the  cut  bank  of  the  river,  ran 
along  the  little  beach  there,  plunged  into  the  river, 
swam  across,  and  so  escaped  from  the  astounded 
Indians.  It  is  to  be  noted,  as  additional  evidence  of 
his  coolness  in  danger,  that  he  retained  throughout 
his  grasp  of  his  five-foot  eleven-pound  rifle.  He  says 
that  during  his  absence  his  cabin  was  several  times 
visited  and  ransacked. 

About  the  time  he  had  reason  to  expect  the  return 
of  his  brother  he  came  in  from  his  wanderings.  The 
latter  part  of  July  Squire  Boone  appeared,  having  for 
the  third  time  accomplished  the  difficult  journey 
undetected.  His  arrival  was  most  cheering.  In  the 
first  place,  he  brought  news  of  Daniel's  family  and 
that  all  was  going  well;  in  the  second  place,  he  reported 
that  he  had  made  a  favourable  sale  of  the  furs,  and  had 
paid  off  the  whole  debt;  and  in  the  third  place  he  had 
brought  two  pack  horses  laden  with  supplies. 


72  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

The  brothers  opened  another  season  against  the 
deer.  It  was  highly  successful,  so  that  in  a  very 
short  time  Squire  was  able  to  pack  up  the  horses  and 
once  more  head  out  for  the  settlements  full  laden. 
This  time  he  made  the  round  trip  in  two  months, 
again  without  molestation.  In  the  science  of  wood- 
craft he  seems  to  have  been  quite  the  equal  of  his 
more  famous  brother.  By  December  he  v/as  back 
again,  and  the  two  entered  upon  another  winter  of 
combined  trapping  and  exploration.  They  did  more 
of  the  latter  this  winter.  They  had  horses;  and  they 
were  now  fully  determined  to  bring  settlement  to 
this  beautiful  land.  Boone  says  himself  that  he 
"esteemed  it  a  second  Paradise."  It  was  in  March 
of  this  winter  that  they  finally  determined  the  site 
of  their  future  home  on  the  Kentucky  River.  Shortly 
after,  convinced  that  at  last  he  knew  all  that  was 
necessary  to  know,  Boone  turned  his  face  homeward. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BOONE'S  return  was  like  the  return  of  Colum- 
bus. The  legendary  land  over  the  mountains 
had  been  entered  by  someone  people  knew. 
He  could  tell  what  lay  behind  the  ranges.  He  had 
not  only  visited  that  land,  but  he  had  maintained 
himself  successfully  in  it  for  two  years.  The  im- 
penetrable mountains  had  been  crossed,  not  once, 
but  several  times,  so  that  it  might  fairly  be  said  that 
a  route  had  been  established.  From  being  a  dream, 
that  strange  far  country  had  become  a  possibility. 
Men  wanted  to  know  about  it  in  detail.  Boone's 
statements  and  opinions  were  eagerly  sought  and 
listened  to,  and  his  opinions  were  weighed. 

But  when  it  came  to  action  there  was  a  good  deal 
to  be  thought  of.  The  Boones  had  lived  there  and 
returned,  to  be  sure:  but  where  were  Finley  and  Cool 
and  Holden  and  Murray  and  Stuart  of  the  original 
six.?^  And  where  was  the  man  who  had  started  out 
with  Squire  Boone .^^  It  was  one  thing  to  go  into  a 
country  as  a  hunter,  lightly  equipped,  mobile.  Such 
was  able  to  dodge  and  skulk  and  hide ;  and  in  any  case 
was  never  the  object  of  any  determined  effort  by  the 

73 


74  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Indians.  If  he  fell  in  their  way,  he  was  likely  to  lose 
his  scalp;  but  they  would  not  bother  especially  to 
hunt  for  him.  But  settlement  was  a  different  matter. 
It  offered  a  definite  point  of  attack.  And  further- 
more the  Indians  knew  very  well  from  experience 
that  settlement  meant  that  sooner  or  later  they  would 
be  crowded  on,  and  they  were  on  that  account  hostile 
to  anything  like  permanent  occupation.  No  matter 
how  attractive  the  picture  or  how  much  a  brand-new 
game  country  appealed  to  these  bold  men,  there  was 
a  lot  to  be  thought  of  before  one  sold  his  farm  and 
ventured. 

Two  years  passed  before  Boone  made  the  move. 
In  that  period,  however,  he  several  times  visited 
Kentucky,  alone  or  in  company  with  two  or  three 
companions,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  further  ex- 
ploration, but  mainly  to  enjoy  his  favourite  sport  of 
hunting.  Other  parties  of  hunters  also  went  in. 
Many  of  these  marked  with  their  tomahawks  possible 
farm  sites.  One  party,  called  the  Long  Hunters, 
were  just  making  camp  for  the  night  when  they 
heard  a  "singular  noise  proceeding  from  a  considerable 
distance  in  the  forest."  The  leader  told  his  man  to 
keep  perfectly  still  and  he  himself  sneaked  carefully 
from  one  tree  to  another  toward  this  "singular  noise." 
He  was  thunderstruck  to  find  "a  man  bareheaded, 
stretched  flat  on  his  back  on  a  deerskin  spread  on 


2= 


5S 


o 
a, 

=0 


50 


50 


05 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  75 

the  ground,  singing  merrily  at  the  top  of  his  voice."  It 
was  Daniel  Boone  who  was  whiling  away  the  time 
waiting  for  his  brother,  Squire.  The  report  does  not 
seem  to  be  a  very  high  testimony  for  Daniel's  singing! 

He  and  his  companions  had  many  interesting  ad- 
ventures in  this  free  gypsy ing  around.  There  was 
no  formal  Indian  war  on,  but  in  the  "dark  and 
bloody  ground"  every  man's  hand  was  against  every 
other's.  As  we  have  said  before,  there  were  no 
Indian  settlements  in  Kentucky;  but  there  were 
swarms  of  hunters  and  raiders.  The  villages  were 
all  at  a  distance.  There  was  no  need,  therefore,  to 
conciliate  the  whites,  as  they  had  to  do  when  the 
villages  were  near  enough  to  suffer  retaliation.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Indians  could  never  carry  on  a 
very  long  war  at  a  time  because  they  were  so  far  from 
their  base,  which  made  it  easier  for  the  pioneers. 

In  this  situation  it  happened  that  two  white  hunters 
had  their  camps  a  few  miles  apart,  but  without 
knowing  it.  One  day  they  caught  sight  of  one 
another,  and  promptly  sprang  behind  trees.  In  the 
usual  fashion  of  Indian  combat  they  advanced,  dart- 
ing from  tree  to  tree,  trying  to  get  a  shot,  but  trying 
equally  not  to  expose  themselves.  This  went  on  for 
about  three  hours  with  neither  man  getting  the 
advantage.  They  were  equally  skilful  at  this  fasci- 
nating game  that  meant  life  or  death.     Every  strata- 


76  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

gem  known  was  used  to  draw  the  other  man's  fire 
without  too  much  danger  of  getting  hit.  Whoever 
shot  first  and  missed  was  of  course  at  a  big  disad- 
vantage. Before  he  could  reload  his  flint  lock  the 
other  man  would  be  upon  him.  At  length  one  be- 
came impatient  over  this  long-drawn,  futile  ma- 
noeuvring. 

*'  Come  out  of  that,  you  'tarnal  redskin ! "  he  shouted. 

"Redskin  yourself!"  retorted  the  other. 

And  then  they  had  a  good  laugh  and  joined  forces; 
for  they  each  agreed  they  had  never  before  met  any 
one  so  skilful  at  "Injun  fighting." 

Every  precaution  was  always  taken  against  sur- 
prise, yet  in  the  dense  forests,  and  in  unusual  con- 
ditions of  wind  and  weather,  surprises  would  happen. 
One  day  Boone  and  his  small  party  of  hunters  were 
eating  lunch  when  suddenly  about  fifty  feet  away 
appeared  a  large  party  of  Indians.  Both  sides  were 
equally  surprised  here,  and  neither  wanted  to  start 
anything.  With  an  assumption  of  indifference,  and 
as  if  that  was  what  they  had  intended  right  along, 
the  Indians  squatted  down  and  began  to  eat  their 
lunch.  There  the  two  parties  sat,  eyeing  each  other, 
neither  wanting  to  make  the  first  move.  Finally 
Boone  arose  and  sauntered  over,  picking  a  bone.  He 
greeted  the  Indians,  who  answered  cautiously.  Then 
he  asked  to  look  at  a  curious  knife  one  of  the  Indians 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  77 

was  using.  The  warrior  handed  it  over.  With  the 
intent  black  eyes  focussed  upon  his  every  movement 
Boone  apparently  swallowed  the  knife,  produced  it 
from  his  shirt,  and  handed  it  back.  With  a  howl  of 
dismay  the  Indian  threw  it  as  far  as  he  could  into  the 
brush,  and  the  whole  party  disappeared. 

Another  time  the  situation  was  reversed.  A  small 
party  of  Indians  met  a  larger  party  of  whites.  Before 
the  latter  could  fire  the  Indians  began  to  cut  up  the 
most  extraordinary  monkeyshines,  running  in  circles, 
crawling  about  on  their  hands  and  knees,  hopping 
fantastically  about,  standing  on  their  heads.  So 
imbecile  was  this  unexpected  performance  that  the 
white  men  stared  at  them  bung-eyed  in  astonishment. 
And  before  they  could  recover  their  wits,  the  Indians 
one  by  one  had  faded  away. 

Boone  had  the  great  gift  of  patience.  Two  years 
he  had  spent  in  his  almost  solitary  explorations,  and 
now  again  he  was  willing  to  wait.  There  is  no  use 
in  rushing  things  to  failure.  Willing  to  take  the 
most  terrible  chances  when  it  seemed  necessary,  he 
believed  in  having  things  as  near  right  as  possible 
before  he  started  any  big  project.  It  would  be  all 
well  enough  to  take  his  family  in  and  establish  it; 
but  defence,  companionship,  and  above  all  the  ful- 
filment of  his  dream  demanded  that  others  should 
accompany  and  follow  him.     So  patiently  he  made 


78  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

his  calm  recital  over  and  over,  forming  public  senti- 
ment until  at  last  in  September,  three  years  before 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Daniel  and 
Squire  Boone  and  their  families  left  their  old  home. 
Farther  along  toward  the  mountains  they  were 
joined  by  five  other  families.  The  party  was  now  a 
strong  one.     There  were  forty  men,  well  armed. 

They  had  with  them  the  materials  for  permanent 
settlement — pack  horses,  cattle,  milk  cows  for  the 
children,  swine,  seeds,  the  simple  household  utensils 
of  that  time,  including  now  full-sized  axes  instead  of 
the  tomahawks  the  explorers  had  used.  For  bedding 
they  carried  blankets  and  quilts  where  the  hunters 
had  been  content  with  skins.  To  be  sure  this  does 
not  seem  like  great  luxury,  especially  when  we  con- 
sider that  wooden  plates  and  platters  and  gourd  cups 
were  in  exclusive  use  on  the  table.  The  hunters  of 
the  families  used  their  hunting  knives,  while  the  rest 
of  the  family  had  one  or  at  most  two  knives  among 
them.  The  very  well-to-do  might  own,  as  a  matter 
of  great  pride,  a  few  pewter  dishes  and  spoons;  but 
these  were  unusual.  There  were  always  a  few  iron 
cooking  kettles.  Beyond  that  the  necessities  and 
luxuries  of  life  were  to  be  fashioned  in  the  wilderness 
from  the  original  materials. 

The  journey  began  propitiously  under  the  direction 
of  the  Boones.     Squire  had  been  over  the  road  so 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  79 

often  that  he  knew  it  every  foot,  where  the  best 
camping  places  were,  and  how  long  each  day's  journey 
should  be.  All  went  well  until  they  were  well  into 
the  mountains  and  were  actually  approaching  the  gap. 

Here  the  party  went  into  camp  to  await  the  arrival 
of  still  others  who  had  agreed  to  meet  them  at  this 
point :  some  forty  men  who  had  decided  to  go  without 
their  families  for  the  time  being,  and  a  man  named 
Russell.  While  waiting  Boone  sent  his  eldest  son> 
James,  a  boy  of  sixteen,  with  two  men  and  some  pack 
horses  to  notify  Russell  and  to  get  some  flour  and 
farming  tools  that  had  been  promised.  They  made 
the  journey  safely,  and  were  returning  laden,  ac- 
companied by  Russell's  son,  two  of  Russell's  negro 
slaves,  and  two  or  three  white  workmen.  Somehow 
they  either  missed  their  way,  or  were  belated,  and 
went  into  camp  for  the  night  only  about  three  miles 
from  the  main  party.  At  daybreak  they  were  fired 
into  by  a  Shawnee  war  party  and  all  were  killed  on 
the  spot  except  one  of  the  white  labourers  and  a  negro, 
who  managed  to  escape.  Boone  hearing  the  firing 
galloped  up  with  his  men;  but  too  late. 

This  tragedy  not  only  threw  the  little  party  into  the 
profoundest  grief  for  those  who  had  been  killed,  but 
it  also  gave  pause  to  the  whole  enterprise.  There 
had  been  no  expectation  of  Indian  hostility  on  this 
side   of   the   mountains.     This   might   be   merely   a 


80  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

chance  raiding  party  of  a  few  irresponsible  braves,  of 
course;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  might  be  intended  as 
a  warning  that  immigration  of  settlers  would  not  be 
tolerated.  Indians  were  no  fools.  Except  in  mo- 
ments of  drunkenness  or  ungovernable  anger,  they 
always  treated  well  the  traders,  of  whatever  nation- 
ahty,  who  came  among  them.  Often,  as  we  have 
seen,  they  even  half  tolerated  the  stray  hunters  who 
pushed  out  in  advance  of  exploration.  But  on  settle- 
ment they  were  apt  to  look  with  suspicion,  or  even 
with  hostility. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  venture  was  a 
little  different  from  any  of  the  pioneering  that  had 
gone  before.  Heretofore  the  frontier  had  been  ex- 
tended by  somebody's  going  to  live  just  a  little  farther 
out  than  anybody  else,  but  still  keeping  in  touch. 
It  was  a  slow  growth  outward.  But  here  these 
settlers  were  pushing  boldly  out  to  form  an  island 
entirely  surrounded  by  savagery. 

So  these  few  men  thought  that  if  the  Indians  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  resist,  it  would  be  mad  folly 
to  cut  themselves  away  from  all  support.  What 
could  forty  do  against  thousands.^  In  spite  of  Boone's 
protests  it  was  decided  to  abandon  the  expedition. 
They  were  not  cowards,  lightly  turned  aside  by  the 
first  opposition,  but  they  considered  the  time  not 
propitious. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  81 

Some  of  them  returned  to  whence  they  had  come; 
but  the  majority,  Boone  among  them,  having  sold 
their  old  farms,  were  unwilling  to  turn  back.  So 
they  settled  in  the  Clinch  Valley,  near  where  they  had 
stopped,  and  there  made  themselves  homes. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WE  ARE  now  in  our  story  face  to  face  with 
the    Indians,   as    was  Boone.     Perhaps    it 
might  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  about 
them,  so  that  we  can  have  a  clearer  idea  of  the  long 
series  of  fights  that  are  now  to  follow. 

There  are  two  schools  of  opinion  about  the  Indian, 
as  there  are  two  schools  about  the  accuracy  of  the 
flint-lock  rifle:  and,  as  in  that  case,  the  truth  lies 
somewhere  between  them.  One  school  paints  him 
as  a  fiend  incarnate,  without  a  single  redeeming  fea- 
ture, a  wild  beast.  That,  it  must  be  confessed,  was 
the  view  held  by  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  borderers. 
The  other  school  depicts  him  as  the  "noble  redman" 
possessed  of  all  the  primitive  virtues ;  despoiled  of  his 
ancient  heritage;  cheated  and  robbed  and  made 
vicious  by  the  injustice  of  the  whites;  a  lofty  and 
pathetic  figure.  There  is  truth  in  both  pictures: 
and  there  is  falsity. 

You  must  remember,  to  start  with,  that  the  Indians 
of  those  days  must  not  be  judged  by  the  Indians  we 
know  now.  They  were  of  a  different  and  in  many 
respects  higher  stock  than  the  plains  Indians  we  are 

82 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  83 

most  apt  to  see.  In  addition,  they  were  living  their 
own  life  in  their  own  country,  and  so  possessed 
faculties  in  full  exercise.  In  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  a  different  kind  of  existence  the  Indian  will 
change  mentally  and  physically  as  fast  as,  or  faster 
than,  the  white,  and  we  all  know  the  difference  even 
two  generations  will  make  in  our  foreign  immigrants. 
So  first  of  all,  consider  the  Indian  of  Boone's  time  as 
a  very  intelligent  person,  with  a  high  sense  of  tra- 
dition, living  a  life  that  was  fitted  to  him,  and  there- 
fore developing  to  a  high  point  of  his  capabilities. 
Since  he  had  to  make  his  own  living  and  protect 
himself  he  was  keen  and  sharp  intellectually;  so  that 
his  great  men  were  indeed  great  men  with  judgment 
well  developed.  There  were  certain  ideals  he  held 
to  very  rigidly.  He  had  a  high  sense  of  his  personal 
integrity,  so  that  he  would  rather  die — and  often 
did — than  smirch  his  honour  in  any  way.  Of  course 
his  idea  of  what  was  honourable  might  differ  in  some 
respects  from  ours,  but  such  as  it  was  he  held  to  it  a 
lot  more  consistently  than  we  are  apt  to  do,  and 
would  sacrifice  to  it  more  unhesitatingly  than  most  of 
us.  Also  it  must  be  confessed  that  most  of  his  points 
of  honour  were  admirable — courage,  endurance  of 
pain,  generosity,  loyalty  to  friendship,  faithfulness  to 
a  trust  once  undertaken  are  all  pretty  good  qualities. 
They  are  not  bad  ideals  for  us  to  uphold. 


84  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Nobody  ever  really  doubted  an  Indian's  courage, 
though  it  was  customary  to  speak  of  the  "cowardly 
skulking  savage."  It  was  part  of  the  settled  system 
of  tactics  in  Indian  warfare  never  to  suffer  undue  loss. 
War  to  them  meant  inflicting  loss  on  the  other  fellow, 
not  the  winning  of  what  we  call  victory.  With  prac- 
tically an  unbroken  forest  between  the  Atlantic 
Coast  and  the  Mississippi  Kiver  it  could  not  seem 
vastly  important  to  them  whether  they  held  or 
gained  any  certain  point  in  that  forest  or  not.  But 
in  hand-to-hand  combat  or  in  the  higher  coiirage  that 
barehanded  meets  danger  unruffled  the  Indian  must 
command  respect.  With  us  a  coward  is  looked  down 
upon;  among  those  Indians  he  was  quite  apt  to  be 
eliminated.  The  celebrated  chief  Cornstalk  is  said 
to  have  tomahawked  those  of  his  own  men  who  showed 
the  slightest  signs  of  flinching. 

The  endurance  of  pain,  and  incidentally  of  dis- 
comfort, was  with  them  a  religion.  Early  in  life 
the  children  were  practised  in  hardships.  At  eight 
years  a  child  was  made  to  fast  a  half  day  at  a  time;  at 
twelve  a  whole  day;  at  eighteen  he  was  placed  in  a 
camp  some  miles  from  his  village  and  fasted  as  long 
as  he  could  hold  out  without  absolutely  perishing. 
When  he  had  stood  all  of  that  he  could,  he  was 
plunged  into  cold  water.  This  was  by  way  of  prac- 
tice.   It  was  a  point  of  honour  never  to  show  signs  of 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  85 

suffering,  so  that  people  began  to  think  Indians 
actually  did  not  suffer;  but  their  nervous  systems  were 
much  the  same  as  ours.  When  captured  the  tortures 
became  a  contest  between  the  enemies:  one  to  elicit 
some  sign  of  pain,  and  the  other  to  endure.  It  is 
many  times  on  record  that  a  captive,  while  under- 
going tortures  so  exquisite  that  it  is  useless  to  harrow 
your  imaginations  with  an  account  of  them,  never- 
theless laughed  at  his  captors,  reviling  them  as  rank 
amateurs,  and  informing  them  that  if  any  of  them 
ever  got  caught  by  his  tribe  they  would  learn  how 
to  do  it.  One  young  man,  after  some  hours  of  tor- 
ment, informed  his  tormentors  that  if  they  would 
bring  him  certain  materials  he  would  show  them  some 
tortures  worth  while.  They  did  so;  and  he  demon- 
strated on  his  own  body ! 

In  their  generosity  they  were  whole  hearted.  It 
was  literally  a  fact  that  they  "shared  their  last 
crust,"  not  once  and  as  a  special  deed  of  beneficence, 
but  always  and  as  a  matter  of  course.  If  a  visitor 
in  any  of  their  villages  happened  to  enter  one  of  their 
dwellings,  he  was  at  once  offered  food,  the  best  that 
dwelling  possessed.  To  refuse  it  or  not  to  offer  it 
was  equally  insulting.  This  was  done  even  though 
the  house  might  be  literally  starving  and  the  visitor 
fresh  from  a  banquet.  On  the  march  also  the 
proverbial    "last   crust"    was   always   shared.     The 


86  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

testimony  of  captives,  otherwise  roughly  treated,  is 
that  their  captors  di\dded  scrupulously  the  scanty 
provisions  and  that  the  prisoners  always  received 
their  full  shares.  Colonel  James  Smith,  who  was  cap- 
tured by  the  Delawares,  tells  of  this:  "If  any  of  the 
town  folks  would  go  to  the  same  house  several  times 
in  one  day,"  he  writes,  "he  would  be  invited  to  eat 
of  the  best;  and  w^ith  them  it  is  bad  manners  to  re- 
fuse to  eat  when  it  is  offered.  At  this  time  hominy, 
plentifully  mixed  with  bear's  oil  and  sugar,  or  dried 
venison,  bear's  oil,  and  sugar  is  what  they  offer  to 
everyone  who  comes  in  any  time  of  the  day;  and  so 
they  go  on  until  their  sugar,  bear's  oil,  and  venison  are 
all  gone,  and  then  they  have  to  eat  hominy  by  itself 
without  bread,  salt,  or  anything  else;  yet  still  they 
invite  everyone  that  comes  in  to  eat  while  they 
have  anything;  but  if  they  can  in  truth  only  say 
we  have  got  nothing  to  eat,  this  is  accepted  as  an 
honourable  apology."  Another  incident  narrated  by 
Smith  gives  an  excellent  example  of  how  seriously  this 
type  of  Indian  took  his  obligations.  He  was  on  an 
expedition  with  his  friend,  Tontileaugo;  himself  with 
a  horse,  the  Indian  with  a  canoe.  On  account  of  a 
high  wind  they  encamped  for  some  days  near  the 
shore  of  a  lake.  Tontileaugo  went  to  hunt,  leaving 
Smith  to  keep  camp.  "When  he  was  gone,"  Smith 
records,  "a  Wyandot  came  to  our  camp.     I  gave  him 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  87 

a  shoulder  of  venison  which  I  had  by  the  fire  well 
roasted,  and  he  received  it  gladly:  told  me  he  was 
hungry,  and  thanked  me  for  my  kindness.  When 
Tontileaugo  came  home  I  told  him  that  a  Wyandot 
had  been  at  camp,  and  that  I  gave  him  a  shoulder  of 
roasted  venison.  He  said  that  was  very  well,  *and 
I  suppose  you  gave  him  also  sugar  and  bear's  oil  to 
eat  with  his  venison.'  I  told  him  I  did  not  as  the 
sugar  and  bear's  oil  were  down  in  the  canoe,  I  did 
not  go  for  it.  He  replied,  *You  have  behaved  just 
like  a  Dutchman.  Do  you  not  know  that  when 
strangers  come  to  our  camp  we  ought  always  to  give 
them  the  best  we  have.'^'  I  acknowledged  that  I 
was  wrong.  He  said  that  he  could  excuse  this,  as  I 
was  but  young:  but  I  must  learn  to  behave  like  a 
warrior,  and  do  great  things." 

Loyalty  was  another  of  their  virtues  that  was 
developed  consistently  to  a  very  high  point.  The 
books  are  full  of  stories  wherein  an  Indian  friend  of  a 
white  man  has  undergone  great  difficulty  and  danger 
to  carry  warning  or  safety  to  his  pal  among  the 
whites.  There  have  even  been  instances  where  the 
carrying  of  that  warning  meant  certain  death.  As 
to  faithfulness  to  the  given  word,  that  is  a  trait  of  the 
wild  Indians  to  this  day.  Twenty-odd  years  ago, 
in  the  Hudson  Bay  country,  I  found  that  the  post 
keepers  were  accustomed  to  extend  credit  for  all  sorts 


88  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

of  supplies  to  quite  large  amounts.  The  Indians 
would  then  disappear  into  the  forest  and  be  lost  to 
view  for  a  year.  I  asked  the  Factor  whether  he  did 
not  lose  considerable  sums  by  this  loose  way  of 
doing  business;  but  he  assured  me  that  in  all  his 
experience  he  had  known  of  but  one  Indian  defaulter. 
Sometimes  in  a  bad  season  the  Indian  might  not 
come  back  the  next  year,  but  sooner  or  later  he  re- 
turned and  paid  his  debt. 

The  Indians  also  held  strictly  to  their  treaties  as 
far  as  they  were  able  to  do  so.  There  were  always 
two  factors  working  against  any  complete  carrying" 
out  of  tribal  as  contrasted  with  personal  agreements: 
one  was  drink,  and  the  other  was  the  fact  that  the 
authority  of  the  chiefs  who  made  the  agreements  was 
limited.  It  was  literally  true  that  at  times  they 
"could  not  control  their  young  men  " ;  and  it  is  literally 
true  that  each  warrior  thought  of  himself  first  as  an 
independent  individual  and  only  second  as  a  respon- 
sible member  of  a  community.  The  chiefs  might 
make  a  peace  which  all  would  observe  except  a  few 
headstrong  young  men;  but  a  raid  by  those  few 
was  quite  enough.  Again  the  chiefs  might  prom- 
ise safe-conduct  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  fort  sur- 
rendering, but  in  some  fashion  the  Indians  might 
get  access  to  rum  and  a  massacre  would  follow. 
For  more   than  any  other   human   creature   liquor 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  89 

seems  to  change  the  Indian.  He  is  totally  insane 
when  drunk. 

So  well  did  they  themselves  know  this  that  when 
serious  deliberations  were  on  they  banished  the  rum 
pannikin.  Their  councils  were  formal,  and  they 
never  made  decisions  until  all  sides  were  heard;  and 
then  not  until  twenty-four  hours  had  passed  for 
deliberation. 

They  were  good  tacticians  in  their  own  kind  of 
warfare.  Their  movements  were  intelligent  and 
wonderfully  carried  out,  especially  considering  the 
thick  cover  and  the  difficulties  of  keeping  in  touch 
with  each  other.  The  various  manoeuvres  were  com- 
manded by  various  sorts  of  whoops.  Each  man 
fought  for  himself  his  individual  fight;  and  yet  the 
sum  total  of  all  these  individual  fights  was  somehow 
handled  as  a  unit.  And  they  were  very  effective 
warriors.  The  white  man  in  battle  won  a  number 
of  "victories,"  and  suffered  some  crushing  de- 
feats, but  many  of  the  victories  were  at  heavy 
cost  and  because,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Indian  meas- 
ured success  not  by  ground  gained  or  held,  but  by 
loss  inflicted.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  at 
every  battle  of  any  importance  except  that  of  Point 
Pleasant  the  whites  greatly  outnumbered  the  Indians. 
This  was  especially  true  at  what  have  been  called 
decisive    battles — Bushy    Run    where    Bonquet    by 


90  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

clever  strategy  gained  the  day,  but  over  inferior 
numbers,  and  only  after  a  bitter  struggle  wherein  he 
lost  four  times  as  many  men;  or  Anthony  Wa:yTie's 
final  engagement,  where  he  outnumbered  the  Indians 
three  to  one.  The  losses  were  nearly  always  corres- 
pondingly disproportionate.  Braddock's  and  Grant's 
regulars,  without  knowledge  of  Indian  warfare,  are 
estimated  to  have  slain  about  one  Indian  for  every 
hundred  of  themselves  who  fell!  Naturally  when 
the  whites  were  skilled  backwoodsmen  this  proportion 
fell  off;  but  rarely — in  spite  of  boastful  accounts  of 
the  participants — were  losses  equal.  Roosevelt  says 
in  his  "Winning  the  West": 

"In  Braddock's  war  the  borderers  are  estimated 
to  have  suffered  a  loss  of  fifty  souls  for  every  Indian 
slain;  in  Pontiac's  war  they  had  learned  to  defend 
themselves  better  and  the  ratio  was  probably  as  ten 
to  one ;  whereas  in  this  war,  if  we  consider  only  males 
of  fighting  age,  it  is  probable  that  a  good  deal  more 
than  half  as  many  Indians  as  whites  were  killed." 
This  was  because  of  two  things :  the  white  man  hated 
to  run  away  in  any  circumstances,  while  the  Indian 
would  just  as  soon  run  away  as  not  if  there  was 
anything  to  be  gained  by  it;  and  the  average  white 
man  could  never  quite  equal  the  average  Indian  in 
woodcraft.  Boone  and  such  men  as  Kenton,  Wetzel, 
Brady,  McCulloch,   and  Mansker,   could   beat   the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  91 

Indian  at  his  own  game;  but  they  were  the  exceptions. 
We  will  tell  more  about  that  when  we  get  to  the 
great  wars.  At  present  we  are  merely  illustrating 
Indian  intelligence  and  effectiveness  in  their  sort  of 
contest. 

But  there  were  four  major  traits  in  the  otherwise 
most  admirable  and  human  character  of  the  redman, 
and  a  number  of  minor  faults  that  made  all  the 
trouble. 

The  major  traits  were  cruelty,  love  of  liquor,  a 
capacity  for  hatred  and  revenge  that  equalled  their 
capacity  for  friendship  and  loyalty,  and  improvidence. 
Their  minor  faults  were  an  inability  to  do  long-con- 
tinued team  work,  a  touchy  pride,  ungovernable  rages. 

Cruelty  was  partly  born  in  them  and  partly  the 
result  of  the  training  in  bearing  hardship  and  pain. 
If  you  have  schooled  yourself  to  pay  no  attention  to 
a  cut  finger  you  have  little  patience  with  the  fellow 
who  bellows  and  raises  a  big  fuss  over  it.  Extend 
that  idea  and  you  will  see  what  I  mean.  The  fact 
remains  that  the  Indian  was  inconceivably  cruel, 
not  only  to  his  enemies,  but  to  his  domestic  animals. 
Children  were  from  the  earliest  years  present  at  the 
tortures  and  taught  to  take  part  in  them.  It  was 
part  of  a  warrior's  education.  Like  all  children 
everywhere  they  carried  over  this  business  of  life 
into  their  play.     They  played  prisoner;  they  played 


92  Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout 

torture;  and  often  they  used  some  unfortunate  animal 
as  a  toy  to  give  reality  to  the  game.  The  result  was 
inevitable:  a  cruelty  for  cruelty's  sake  that  has  been 
equalled  only  by  the  Holy  Inquisition  of  the  Middle 
Ages.     Roosevelt  says: 

"Any  one  who  has  ever  been  in  an  encampment  of 
wild  Indians,  and  has  had  the  misfortune  to  witness 
the  delight  the  children  take  in  torturing  little  ani- 
mals will  admit  that  the  Indian's  love  of  cruelty 
for  cruelty's  sake  cannot  possibly  be  exaggerated. 
The  young  are  so  trained  that  when  old  they  shall 
find  their  keenest  pleasure  in  inflicting  pain  in  its 
most  appalling  form.  Among  the  most  brutal 
white  borderers  a  man  would  be  instantly  lynched  if 
he  practised  on  any  creature  the  fiendish  torture 
which  in  an  Indian  camp  either  attracts  no  notice  at 
all,  or  else  excites  merely  laughter." 

Thus  cruelty  became,  you  must  remember,  not  a 
result  of  individual  evil-mindedness  or  malice.  When 
an  Indian  was  cruel  it  was  rarely  in  the  personally 
malevolent  fashion  of  a  small  boy  tin-canning  a  dog: 
but  it  was  because  that  was  one  of  his  racial  char- 
acteristics. Outside  his  rages  and  enemies,  or  those 
who  might  become  enemies,  he  was  particularly 
warm-hearted.  We  have  seen  examples  of  his  gen- 
erosity and  loyalty.  In  his  tribal  relations  he  was  a 
merry  and  warm-hearted  person.    He  rarely  whipped 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  93 

his  children,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond.  If  they 
must  be  punished  he  did  it  by  ducking  them  under 
water.  Colonel  Smith,  in  mentioning  this,  remarks 
quaintly:  "As  might  be  expected,  their  children  are 
more  obedient  in  winter  than  in  summer!"  Never- 
theless, a  deep  ingrained  racial  cruelty  is  one  of  the 
Indian  characteristics;  and  was  a  powerful  factor, 
when  the  scales  of  Eternal  Justice  were  poised,  in 
bringing  about  his  elimination  from  the  land.  For 
however  little  it  may  be  any  one  person's  fault,  if 
fault  there  be,  it  must  have  its  consequence.  To 
demonstrate  responsibility  by  examples,  both  great 
and  small,  is  possibly  one  reason  our  world  exists. 

An  amazing  illustration  of  this  complete  indiffer- 
ence to  the  other  fellow's  feelings  in  the  matter  is 
supplied  by  a  contemporary  account  of  a  captivity 
among  the  Delawares.  This  man's  companions  were 
killed  from  ambush  and  he  was  seized. 

"They  then  set  off  and  ran  at  a  smart  pace  for 
about  fifteen  miles,  and  that  night  we  slept  without 
fire.  The  next  morning  they  divided  the  last  of 
their  provisions  and  gave  me  an  equal  share,  which 
was  about  two  or  three  ounces  of  mouldy  biscuit: 
this  and  a  young  ground  hog,  about  as  large  as  a 
rabbit,  roasted,  and  also  equally  divided,  was  all  the 
provision  we  had  until  we  came  to  the  Loyal  Hamm, 
which  was  about  fifty  miles."     On  arrival  at  the 


94  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Indian  village,  however,  the  Indians  ran  out  in  great 
numbers  "stripped  naked,  excepting  breech  clouts, 
and  painted  in  the  most  hideous  manner,  of  various 
colours.  As  they  approached,  they  formed  them- 
selves into  two  long  ranks.  I  was  told  by  an  Indian 
that  could  speak  English  that  I  must  run  betwixt 
these  ranks  and  that  they  would  flog  me  all  the  way 
as  I  ran.  I  started  to  the  race  with  all  the  resolution 
and  vigour  I  was  capable  of  exerting,  found  that  it 
was  as  I  had  been  told,  for  I  was  flogged  the  whole 
way.  When  I  got  near  the  end  of  the  lines  I  was 
struck  with  something  that  appeared  to  me  a  stick, 
or  the  handle  of  a  tomahawk,  which  caused  me  to 
fall  to  the  ground.  On  my  recovering  my  senses 
I  endeavoured  to  renew  my  race;  but  as  I  arose 
someone  cast  sand  in  my  eyes,  which  blinded  me  so 
I  could  not  see  where  to  run.  They  continued  beat- 
ing me  most  intolerably,  until  I  was  at  length  in- 
sensible; but  before  I  lost  my  senses  I  remember  my 
wishing  them  to  strike  the  fatal  blow  for  I  thought 
they  intended  killing  me." 

The  Indians  then  took  him  to  Fort  DuQuesne  and 
put  him  under  the  care  of  a  French  surgeon.  It  took 
him  some  time  to  recover;  then  the  Indians  re- 
claimed him  and  ever  after,  for  the  four  years  of  his 
captivity,  treated  him  with  the  greatest  affection, 
as  one  of   themselves.     Our   hero   enquired   of   the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  95 

Indian  who  spoke  English,  "a  man  of  considerable 
understanding.  I  asked  him  if  I  had  done  anything 
that  had  offended  the  Indians,  which  caused  them 
to  treat  me  so  unmercifully.  He  said  no;  it  was  only 
an  old  custom  the  Indians  had,  and  that  it  was  like 
*how  do  you  do'." 

When  this  innate  and  everyday  and  thoughtless 
cruelty  was  carried  into  border  warfare  and  used  by 
the  savages  against  men,  women,  and  children  in- 
discriminately, it  aroused  a  vindictive  hatred  and 
thirst  for  revenge  that  had  behind  it  a  strong  driving 
force.     Of  that  more  later. 

The  second  great  fault,  that  of  drunkenness,  was 
the  first  cause  of  the  Indian's  undoing.  In  the  old 
phrase,  "he  could  not  carry  his  liquor  well."  In- 
deed rum  made  of  him  a  different  man,  an  irrespon- 
sible, insane  creature  who  was  likely  to  do  almost 
anything.  The  Indians  recognized  this  themselves. 
Many  travellers  and  traders  describe  to  us  the  or- 
derly fashion  in  which  the  savages  used  to  arrange 
for  a  big  drunk;  depositing  all  their  arms  in  a  safe 
place;  detailing  certain  members  of  the  band  whose 
duty  it  was  to  keep  sober  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
venting deadly  fights,  to  take  care  of  the  helplessly 
intoxicated,  and  to  see  that  none  of  the  maddened 
participants  managed  to  get  hold  of  weapons.  WTien 
all  these  matters  were  arranged,  the  lucky  ones  who 


96  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

had  the  privilege  proceeded  deliberately  to  get 
drunk.  These  sprees  were  terrible,  lasting  sometimes 
two  or  three  days;  and  it  was  a  rare  thing  that,  in 
spite  of  those  delegated  to  stay  sober,  someone  was 
not  badly  injured  or  killed.  All  the  savage  passions 
seemed  to  be  unleashed  by  the  liquor.  They  shrieked 
and  yelled  and  danced  and  rolled  on  the  ground; 
they  staggered  away  aimlessly,  and  woe  to  the  man 
who  stood  in  their  way!  The  great  massacres,  as 
at  Fort  William  Henry,  were  not  due  to  any  pre- 
arranged plan — quite  the  contrary — but  to  the  fact 
that  the  savages,  armed,  got  access  to  the  liquor 
barrels.  The  Indians  themselves  realized  thoroughly 
all  these  facts.  One  of  the  traders  testifies  of  them 
that  they  were  "reasonable  when  sobered,  and  do 
not  bear  a  grudge  for  violence  by  traders  to  subdue 
them  when  drunk."  At  the  little  trading  outposts 
a  supply  of  laudanum  was  always  on  hand  to  be 
mixed  with  the  rum  when  matters  were  going  too  far. 
We  shall  add  that  the  Indian  soon  grew  to  love 
alcohol  with  a  great  longing,  so  that  he  would  travel 
great  distances  and  part  with  anything  to  get  it. 
No  negotiation  or  purchase  or  sale  had  any  chance 
of  success  unless  the  rum  pannikin  was  forthcoming 
or  promised. 

Every  settler's  cabin  in  those  days  had  its  whiskey 
jug;  every  fort  its  supply  of  liquor.     Such  things  were 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  97 

a  matter  of  course,  a  daily  supply,  a  ration  as  habitual 
as  bread.  So  in  a  successful  raid  the  savages  always 
found  the  wherewith  to  inflame  his  mind;  and  thus 
by  the  light  of  burning  cabins  atrocities  were  com- 
mitted beyond  what  even  native  cruelty  would  have 
urged  without  the  liquor.  And  that  added  to  the 
trouble.  If  you  had  laboured  for  some  years  hard, 
with  axe  and  plough,  and  had  at  length  bit  by  bit 
made  yourself  a  cabin  and  a  little  farm ;  if  one  by  one 
you  had  accumulated  and  bred  until  you  had  a  tiny 
little  herd  of  cows  and  pigs ;  if  you  and  your  wife  had 
worked  early  and  late,  and  your  little  baby  was  just 
getting  big  enough  to  toddle  to  the  door  to  meet  you 
— and  then  suppose  some  evening  at  sundown  you 
were  to  return  home  from  an  absence,  full  of  eager- 
ness, and  as  you  came  around  the  point  of  the  woods 
you  saw  a  blackened  smoking  heap  where  your  cabin 
had  stood.  As  you  ran  forward  you  saw  your  cattle 
killed  and  left  wantonly  where  they  had  fallen;  your 
crops  burned  down.  And  at  the  house  lay  your 
little  baby,  its  skull  crushed  when  some  Indian  swung 
it  by  the  feet  against  a  tree.  Your  wife  was  gone. 
In  desperation  you  aroused  the  neighbours,  and  per- 
haps by  fortune  you  overtook  the  Indians  after  a 
number  of  days'  travel.  The  Indians  had  had  time 
to  torture  her.  Your  gentle,  pretty  wife  has  had  her 
nails  bent  back;  she  has  had  her  soft  body  burned  by 


98  Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

gun  barrels  heated  red  hot;  she  has  had  charges  of 
powder  fired  into  her;  she  has  had  the  joints  of  her 
ten  fingers  and  her  ten  toes  burned  off  one  by  one. 
She  has  in  her  prolonged  agony  cried  for  water,  and 
they  have  brought  her  molten  lead.  Perhaps  I 
should  not  tell  you  even  these  few  details,  but  it  is 
necessary  for  you  to  get  the  vivid  picture  so  you  can 
gain  even  a  faint  understanding.  Purposely  I  have 
omitted  the  worst  of  the  Indian  tortures.  They  were 
expert  at  prolonging  the  most  exquisite  agony  for  a 
very  long  period.  One  man  writing  at  the  time  said 
that  the  "Indians  could  only  torture  him  three  hours 
before  he  died;  but  his  screams  were  particularly 
horrible."  I  quote  from  memory.  Can  you  wonder 
that  such  a  man  whose  place  you  have  for  the  moment 
taken,  and  all  his  neighbours,  looked  on  the  perpetra- 
tors of  such  a  tragedy  as  fiends.^  And  w^hen  this,  or 
worse,  happens  not  once  or  tw^ice,  but  hundreds  of 
times,  can  you  marvel  that  at  last  the  tendency  was 
for  the  average  settler  to  look  on  all  Indians  as  wild 
beasts  to  be  shot  at  sight  as  wild  beasts  are? 

And  you  must  remember  that  the  Indian  w^as  kind, 
generous,  and  loyal  to  those  who  were  his  friends,  or 
against  whom  he  did  not  make  war.  Only,  he  made 
war  cruelly;  and  so  in  the  slow  movement  of  evolution 
he  had  to  take  the  consequences. 

This  antagonism  between  white  and  red  was  further 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout  99 

intensified  by  the  Indian's  fierce  and  haughty  pride. 
He  was  very  touchy.  Inchned  to  be  friendly  at  first, 
he  was  inflamed  to  sudden  anger  at  fancied  shghts 
or  rebuffs.  Very  tender  of  his  dignity  was  he;  and 
very  suspicious  that  his  dignity  was  of  set  purpose 
assailed.  Once  he  had  a  grievance,  or  thought  he 
had,  he  was  revengeful  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 
Things  a  white  man  would  never  notice,  or  if  he  did 
notice,  would  forget  the  next  instant,  the  Indian 
would  brood  over  and  make  a  reason  for  retaliation. 
And  that  retaliation  might  come  instantly,  in  a  burst 
of  rage;  or  it  might  not  come  about  until  years  later. 
If  possible  it  was  at  once,  for  the  savage  was  subject 
to  fits  of  ungovernable  anger.  It  is  very  hard,  at 
the  best,  to  get  along  with  such  people.  We  all 
have  them  among  our  acquaintance,  and  they  take 
very  careful  handling.  But  the  white  borderers  were 
not  inclined  to  be  particularly  tender  of  their  red 
neighbours'  feefings;  looking  down  on  them  as  savages, 
and  treating  them  with  at  best  a  good-natured  toler- 
ance and  at  worst  with  a  fierce  contempt.  Each 
side  thus  firmly  believed  itself  superior  to  the  other: 
for  the  Indian  considered  himself  in  every  way  better 
than  the  white — in  honour,  in  bravery,  in  military 
skill,  in  endurance,  in  woodcraft.  As  to  all  but  the 
first  they  were  certainly  right,  and  as  to  honour, 
within  their  understanding  of  that  term,  they  held 


100        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

to  their  code  at  least  as  closely  as  we  did  to  ours. 
They  did  not  understand  our  virtues  of  steadfast- 
ness, industry,  inventiveness,  and  the  like. 

"The  Indians  do  not  fear  our  numbers,  which  they 
deride,"  writes  Eastburn,  "because  of  our  unhappy 
divisions  in  consequence  of  which  they  expect  to 
conquer  us  completely." 

Thus  just  in  the  make-up  of  the  two  races  we  have 
good  material  for  trouble;  even  if  nothing  else  were 
to  urge  them  against  each  other. 

But  the  last  of  the  evil  fairies  of  the  Indian  dis- 
position was  his  improvidence.  He  had  little  or  no 
notion  either  of  producing  enough  of  anything  to 
assure  the  future,  or  of  saving  a  little  to-day  so  as 
to  have  something  for  to-morrow.  Most  of  us  are  a 
bit  imwise  that  way;  but  the  germ  of  thrift  is  in  our 
race,  and  it  was  not  in  the  Indian.  We  have  seen 
how  he  fed  everybody  who  entered  his  dwelling  until 
the  last  was  gone,  even  with  a  hard  winter  ahead  and 
though  the  visitor  had  just  had  eight  square  meals. 
That  was  exactly  typical.  He  raised  some  corn  and 
vegetables,  to  be  sure,  because  he  liked  them;  but  he 
rarely  made  sufficient  store  to  last  him  through  the 
season;  and  the  winters  were  histories  of  famines. 
This  trait  was  not  entirely,  nor  even  principally, 
ignoble.  It  sprang  not  so  much  from  laziness  as 
from  faith.     The  Indian,   within  his  simple  belief, 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout      101 

was  deeply  religious,  in  that  he  made  his  religion  a 
part  of  his  daily  life.  He  beheved  that  death  did  not 
amount  to  very  much,  that  men  went  right  on  doing 
things  on  the  other  side  of  the  Veil,  and  that  to  pass 
from  this  life  to  that  was  merely  like  going  from  a 
forest  he  knew  to  one  he  did  not  know.  Indeed  the 
usual  way  of  expressing  death  in  some  tribes  was  to 
say  that  a  man  "changed  his  cHmate."  One  of  the 
behefs  of  his  religion  was  that  men  are  under  the 
personal  care  of  the  Great  Spirit;  that  nothing  can 
happen  to  them  without  the  consent  and  intention 
of  the  Great  Spirit;  that  good  luck  and  bad  luck, 
fortune  and  misfortune,  happiness  and  misery,  plenty 
and  famine,  are  all  bestowed  by  the  Great  Spirit  for 
the  purpose  of  punishing,  rewarding,  training,  or  de- 
veloping his  children. 

Our  old  friend,  James  Smith,  after  he  had  been  for 
a  long  time  captive  of  the  Delawares,  was  out  with 
an  old  Indian  named  Tecaughutanego  and  a  little 
boy  named  Nunganey.  They  were  forty  miles  from 
anywhere,  and  they  had  the  bad  luck  to  encounter 
a  spell  of  weather  that  made  so  thick  a  snow  crust 
that  Smith  could  not  kill  meat.  The  old  man  was 
laid  up  with  rheumatism.  After  a  while  things,  to 
Smith,  became  desperate.  It  looked  as  though  noth- 
ing could  save  them  from  starvation.  For  two  days 
he  had  had  nothing  at  all  to  eat,  and  ,had  hunted 


102        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

frantically.  The  old  Indian  and  the  boy  had  huddled 
at  home  in  the  hut  trying  to  keep  warm  and  conserve 
their  strength.     But  let  Smith  tell  about  it: 

"When  I  came  into  our  hut  Tecaughutanego 
asked  what  success.  I  told  him  not  any.  He  asked 
me  if  I  was  not  very  hungry.  I  replied  that  the 
keen  edge  of  appetite  seemed  to  be  in  some  measure 
removed,  but  I  was  both  faint  and  weary.  He 
commanded  Nunganey  to  bring  me  something  to  eat, 
and  he  brought  me  a  kettle  with  some  bones  and 
broth." 

This  was  made,  it  seemed,  from  some,  old  ^ones 
of  fox  and  wildcat  that  the  ravens  and  buzzards  had 
left.  They  did  not  contain  much  substance,  but 
they  warmed  and  revived  Smith.  Then  the  old 
Indian  filled  and  lighted  his  pipe,  and  handed  it  to 
his  white  friend,  waiting  patiently  until  it  was  smoked 
out.  After  Smith,  in  answer  to  his  inquiries,  stated 
himself  much  refreshed,  the  old  man  said  that  he  had 
something  of  importance  to  communicate. 

"He  said  the  reason  he  deferred  his  speech  till 
now  was  that  few  men  are  in  a  right  humour  to  hear 
good  talk  when  they  are  extremely  hungry,  as  they 
are  then  generally  fretful  and  discomposed;  'but 
as  you  now  appear  to  enjoy  calmness  and  serenity 
of  mind,  I  will  now  communicate  to  you  the  thoughts 
of  my  heart,  and  those  things  I  know  to  be  true. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        103 

"  ^Brother:  as  you  have  lived  with  the  white  people, 
you  have  not  had  the  same  advantage  of  knowing 
that  the  Great  Being  above  feeds  his  people,  and 
gives  them  their  meat  in  due  season,  as  we  Indians 
have  who  are  frequently  out  of  provisions,  and  yet 
are  wonderfully  supplied,  and  that  so  frequently  that 
it  is  evidently  the  hand  of  the  great  Owaneeyo  that^ 
does  this.  Whereas  the  white  people  have  commonly 
large  stocks  of  tame  cattle  that  they  can  kill  when 
they  please,  and  also  their  barn  cribs  filled  with 
grain,  and  therefore  have  not  the  same  opportunity  of 
seeing  and  knowing  that  they  are  supported  by  the 
Ruler  of  heaven  and  earth. 

"'Brother:  I  know  that  you  are  now  afraid  that 
we  will  all  perish  with  hunger,  but  you  have  no  just 
reason  to  fear  this. 

"'Brother:  I  have  been  young,  but  now  am  old; 
and  I  have  frequently  been  under  the  like  circum- 
stances that  we  now  are,  and  that  some  time  or  other 
in  almost  every  year  of  my  life;  yet  I  have  hitherto 
been  supported,  and  my  wants  supplied  in  times  of 
need. 

"'Brother:  Owaneeyo  sometimes  suffers  us  to  be 
in  want,  in  order  to  teach  us  our  dependence  upon 
him,  and  to  let  us  know  that  we  are  to  love  and 
serve  him;  and  likewise  to  know  the  worth  of  the 
favours  we  receive  and  make  us  thankful. 


104        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

"'Brother:  Be  assured  that  you  will  be  supplied 
with  food,  and  that  just  in  the  right  time;  but  you 
must  continue  diligent  in  the  use  of  means.  Go 
to  sleep,  and  rise  early  in  the  morning  and  go  a-hunt- 
ing;  be  strong,  and  exert  yourself  like  a  man,  and  the 
Great  Spirit  will  direct  your  way'." 

It  is  pleasant  to  relate  that  the  old  man's  words 
were  justified,  and  that  the  very  next  day  Smith  ran 
across  some  buffalo  and  managed  to  kill  a  cow. 

But  such  faith  in  divine  care  naturally  takes  it  for 
granted  that  the  means  must  be  at  hand.  These 
Indians  had  no  belief  in  manna  from  heaven.  They 
thought  Owaneeyo  would  throw  game  in  their  way 
when  it  suited  his  purpose:  but  there  must  be  game  to 
throw.  If  a  race  of  men  are  to  depend  solely  on  the 
natural  sustenance  of  the  wilderness,  then  they  need 
a  very  large  area  of  country.  Wild  animals  require 
more  space  than  tame  and  pasture-fed  animals;  so  do 
wild  men.  The  Indians  realized  very  thoroughly 
that  the  coming  of  the  white  man  in  any  numbers 
portended  the  killing  and  driving  away  of  the  game: 
which  meant  in  time  that  the  Great  Spirit  could  no 
longer  take  care  of  his  children.  So  the  wars  were 
not  only  wars  of  revenge,  wars  of  hatred,  but  were 
also  wars  of  preservation  of  what  they  considered  their 
own,  wars  to  defend  the  very  continuance  of  the  kind 
of  life  in  agreement  with  their  religion. 


CHAPTER  IX 

NOR  as  a  race  were  the  white  men  without 
blame.  Never  did  the  most  brutal  of  them 
quite  get  down  to  the  ferocious  cruelty  of  the 
Indians;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  cruelty 
with  the  Indian  was  something  taught  as  honourable 
against  an  enemy,  while  with  the  white  man  it  was 
purely  a  personal  matter.  Nevertheless,  some  of 
them  were  bad  enough;  and  we  seem  to  have  had  an 
unhappy  faculty  of  doing  things  that  alienated  even 
those  inclined  at  first  to  be  friendly. 

The  pioneers  were  a  rough  race,  even  with  each 
other.  They  were  moulded  for  a  hard  job;  and  with 
the  majority  of  them  fineness  of  fibre  or  delicacy  of 
feehng  was  not  marked.  Their  jokes  were  boisterous 
and  crude,  their  manners  noisy;  their  perceptions 
quite  incapable  of  appreciating  the  fact  that  they 
might  be  hurting  the  other  man's  feelings.  In  their 
every -day  dealings  they  had  little  of  that  grave  and 
calm  ceremony  so  much  esteemed  by  the  Indians. 
Add  to  these  natural  disadvantages  the  fact  that  they 
looked  down  on  the  savages  with  contempt  which 
they  took  small  pains  to  conceal;  and  you  can  readily 

105 


106        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

see  that  there  could  be  no  great  sympathy  between 
the  races. 

But  we  must  go  a  step  beyond  that.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  white  man  committed  many  unwar- 
ranted deeds  of  aggression.  One  of  the  worst  was  his 
persistence  in  selling  the  Indians  liquor.  We  have 
seen  how  rum  changed  the  savage's  whole  nature. 
The  earliest  settlers  soon  realized  that  with  the  help 
of  a  httle  fire  water  the  Indian  could  be  persuaded  to 
almost  anything.  It  was  very  useful  in  making 
treaties  or  trading.  By  its  aid  thousands  of  bad 
bargains — for  the  red  man — were  carried  through 
quite  legally;  bargains  great  and  small,  but  ending 
always  in  the  Indian  having  less  than  he  had  before. 
It  was  all  open  and  above  board;  and  the  savage  went 
into  it  of  his  own  free  will;  but  the  fact  remained  that 
his  judgment  had  been  clouded,  or  completely  taken 
away.  When  he  came  to  himself,  he  realized  this 
fact.  He  could  not  do  anything  about  it,  but,  dimly 
or  clearly,  he  felt  the  injustice  and  nursed  a  grievance. 
And  on  the  next  occasion  the  same  thing  happened 
again;  for  once  he  had  acquired  the  taste,  he  could  not 
resist.  Many  of  the  greater  chiefs  knew  this,  and 
begged  the  whites  to  keep  liquor  from  their  people. 
It  might  be  stated  in  justice  to  the  whites  that  whiskey 
and  rum  were  with  them  part  of  every  bargain,  busi- 
ness transaction,  or  social  gathering.     Even  church 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        107 

business  was  carried  forward  with  vast  seas  of  port 
and  madeira.  It  was  considered  no  disgrace  to  get 
drunk:  indeed  that  was  quite  as  natural  a  way  of 
enjoying  oneself  as  is  now  a  game  of  cards  or  dancing. 
A  sot  was  looked  down  on  simply  because  he  allowed 
pleasure  to  elbow  aside  the  other  business  of  life.  So 
our  ancestors  probably  did  not  even  have  a  passing 
suspicion  that  they  were  doing  anything  immoral  in 
thus  furnishing  liquor.  As  to  the  cheating,  as  we 
would  now  call  it,  that  was  an  age  of  individualism, 
wherein  every  man  was  supposed  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. We,  in  these  days  of  the  team-work  idea,  find 
it  difficult  to  realize  how  completely  this  was  true. 
Every  man  was  responsible  only  to  himself  for  ninety- 
nine  hundredths  of  his  actions.  Unless  these  actions 
directly  and  immediately  harmed  his  neighbours,  he 
could  do  as  he  pleased.  He  might  wantonly  kill  a 
perfectly  friendly  Indian  on  the  very  fringe  of  town; 
his  action  might  be  deplored  or  even  frowned  upon 
by  his  neighbours,  but  he  would  not  be  called  to  ac- 
count. I  am  writing  of  borderers,  not  of  the  early 
blue-law  Puritans.  The  neighbours  would  stop  him 
fafit  enough  if  he  tried  to  steal  something  off  the  wall, 
because  they  could  see  where  that  affected  them:  but 
so  strongly  were  they  independent  as  individuals 
that  they  could  not  perceive  that  in  the  long  run 
Indian  killing  affected  them  more.     And  so  we  see 


108        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  first  racial  uneasiness  begin  to  smoulder  from  a 
feeling  of  injustice. 

And  a  feeling  of  injustice  in  the  matter  of  lands  and 
pelts  was  strengthened  by  individual  injustices  of  all 
kinds.  There  were  three  widely  divergent  classes  of 
people  who  inflicted  them:  the  strictly  religious,  the 
irresponsible  ruffians,  and  those  whose  deadly  enmity 
had  been  aroused  by  border  outrages. 

The  first  sort  is  very  well  illustrated  by  the  per- 
formance of  that  sweetly  tolerant  lot  we  revere  as 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  They  were  at  first  very  well 
received  by  the  Indians.  One  warrior  in  especial  took 
a  great  liking  to  them,  and  was  constantly  with  them 
and  doing  all  sorts  of  favours  for  them.  When  the 
first  Thanksgiving  was  proclaimed,  he  hastened  to 
the  forest  eager  to  supply  his  bit  to  the  white  man's 
feast,  and  had  the  luck  to  kill  a  fat  buck.  He  carried 
the  deer  on  his  shoulders  to  the  settlement  and  proudly 
presented  it  to  his  new  friends.  They  had  him 
whipped.  Why.^  Because  he  had  killed  the  deer 
on  Sunday !  What  did  the  poor,  friendly,  eager  savage 
know  of  Sunday.^  And  what  possible  difference 
could  it  make  to  any  but  the  religiously  insane  when 
a  kind  and  generous  deed  is  done!  But  you  can 
imagine  that  the  poor  Indian,  sore,  bewildered, 
changed  his  mind  about  being  a  friend  of  the  white 
man;  and  changed  the  minds  of  his  people  as  far  as 


Daniel  Boone:  Wilderness  Scout         109 

his  influence  extended.     There   were  many   similar 
instances. 

The  ruffians  were  an  even  more  serious  matter. 
You  must  reahze  that  a  good  many  of  the  more 
southerly  settlers  were  actually  convicts,  either  sent 
over  from  the  old  country  to  be  got  rid  of,  or  brought 
in  as  bondsmen.  They  and  their  descendants  could 
not  be  expected  to  exemplify  all  the  virtues.  And 
among  the  better  element  are  always  roughs,  men 
without  scruple,  scornful  of  the  other  man's  rights, 
overbearing,  bullying,  ready  fighters,  indifferent  to 
consequences,  hard  drinkers,  "tough"  boys.  These 
are  hard  enough  to  handle  in  a  modern  city  with  all 
the  facilities  of  a  police  system.  It  was  absolutely 
impossible  to  handle  them  in  those  days  of  individual 
irresponsibility,  and  nobody  tried.  They  committed 
all  sorts  of  absolutely  unprovoked  outrages;  and  the 
hatreds  and  revenges  they  inspired  were  laid  to  the 
whole  white  race.  That  sort  of  thing  was  done  by 
both  sides.  A  white  settler  who  had  lost  family  or 
friends  was  thenceforth  an  enemy  of  the  Indians, 
good  or  bad;  an  Indian  who  had  been  insulted  or 
cheated  or  maltreated  by  some  renegade  killed  the 
first  white  man  he  saw.  There  was  little  to  choose 
between  the  two  sides;  and  these  things,  from  small 
beginnings,  accumulated,  became  worse  and  worse, 
until  there  was  an  abiding  enmity.     The  wonder  is 


110        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

not  that  white  men  and  red  men  were  so  merciless 
to  each  other,  but  rather  that  there  persisted  so  much 
personal  friendship  and  mercy  and  decency  in  spite 
of  everything. 

But  outside  of  any  question  of  justice  or  injustice, 
we  must  not  forget  that  nothing  could  have  saved  the 
Indian  in  his  old  manner  of  life.  He  occupied  and 
owned  vast  areas  of  land  in  the  sense  that  he  roamed 
over  it  and  killed  game  on  it.  In  the  broader  sense 
of  ever  having  done  anything  to  make  it  useful  or 
productive  he  did  not  occupy  it  nor  own  it  at  all. 
Whether  by  peace  or  war,  whether  by  slow  evolution 
or  swift  force,  it  has  always  been  the  history  of  the 
world  that  nomadic  peoples  disappear  before  pas- 
toral peoples,  and  they  in  turn  give  way  to  agricul- 
tural peoples.  Sometimes  the  same  race  develops 
from  hunters  to  herdsmen  to  farmers:  sometimes,  as 
with  the  Indian  and  with  the  Calif ornian-Spanish, 
it  is  thrust  aside.  As  the  country  became  settled, 
as  it  was  necessary  that  fewer  acres  be  required  to 
support  more  people,  it  would  be  inevitable  either 
that  the  Indian  move  on  to  a  fresh  game  country 
or  that  he  modify  his  nomadic  life  and  support  him- 
self in  a  new  way.  That  is  a  law  of  evolution,  and 
cannot  be  avoided. 

And  in  the  present  instance  the  Indians  had  less 
than  their  usual  shadow  of  a  title  to  the  land.     The 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        111 

country  south  of  the  Ohio  was  a  debatable  ground 
always.  It  lay  between  the  Cherokee  races  on  the 
south  and  the  Algonquin  races  on  the  north,  and  was 
used  by  both  as  a  hunting  and  battle  ground,  but 
was  settled  by  neither.  Daniel  Boone  and  his  com- 
panions, members  of  a  third  race,  going  into  Ken- 
tucky for  the  same  purposes,  thereby  acquired  just 
as  good  a  title.  However,  as  will  be  seen,  treaties 
were  here  also  made  and  broken. 

There  we  are.  After  some  centuries  of  contact  the 
two  races,  rightly  or  wrongly,  faced  each  other  as 
enemies. 

The  Indians  were  formidable  fighters;  and  in  those 
days  had  advantages  denied  our  plains  Indians  in 
their  period  of  warfare  with  the  whites.  It  is  easier 
to  learn  plains'  craft  or  mountain  craft  than  wood- 
craft. Two  or  three  men  in  the  mountains  or  on 
the  prairie  can  stand  off  a  great  number  of  Indians. 
But  these  savages  dwelt  and  travelled  and  fought  in  a 
region  of  dark,  tangled,  gloomy  forest.  It  was  a 
forest  of  dense  leafy  undergrowth  so  thick  that  one 
could  rarely  see  more  than  a  few  yards,  and  yet  so 
yielding  that  one  could  glide  almost  anywhere  through 
it.  The  high,  straight  trunks  of  the  trees  rose  above 
it,  branching  and  forked,  leaning,  the  most  excellent 
observation  posts  where  a  warrior  could  sit  at  ease 
scanning  the  mobile  sea  of  brush  beneath.     No  horse 


112        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

could  travel  through  it  except  on  chopped  paths  or 
game  trails,  so  that  it  was  easy  for  the  ambuscading 
savage  to  guess  his  mounted  foe's  route.  Indeed 
even  a  foot  traveller — unless  he  was  an  expert  in 
woodcraft  beyond  the  skill  of  most  people  even  in 
those  days — who  strayed  a  hundred  yards  off  known 
routes  would  be  hopelessly  lost.  In  such  a  forest 
there  are  few  landmarks,  a  terrifying  similarity.  Only 
very  occasionally  was  this  forest  opened  by  a  meadow 
in  a  valley,  or  a  "park"  on  a  hillside,  but  ordinarily 
one  could  travel  literally  for  weeks  on  end  without 
either  seeing  clearly  the  sun  or  any  other  prospect 
but  the  tree  trunks  and  the  thick,  leafy  screen  of  the 
underbrush.  About  the  only  exceptions  were  the 
"openings"  in  Kentucky. 

Now  it  is  all  very  well  to  have  told  you  of  the  wood- 
craft education  our  little  white  boys  were  given,  and 
it  was  a  wonderful  education;  but  it  could  not  possibly 
equal  that  of  the  Indian  lads.  The  red  boy  had  the 
advantage  of  inheriting  qualities  the  white  boy's 
ancestry  could  not  hand  down  to  him;  and  in  addition 
he  was,  in  all  this,  leading  his  normal  every -day  life, 
where  the  white  boy  was  merely  being  taught,  how- 
ever thoroughly,  for  an  emergency.  As  Roosevelt 
says  : 

"To  their  keen  eyes,  trained  for  generations  to 
more  than  a  wild  beast's  watchfulness,  the  wilderness 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout         113 

was  an  open  book;  nothing  at  rest  or  in  motion 
escaped  them.  They  had  begun  to  track  game  as 
soon  as  they  could  walk;  a  scrape  on  a  tree  trunk,  a 
bruised  leaf,  a  faint  indentation  of  the  soil  which  the 
eye  of  no  white  man  could  see,  all  told  them  a  tale  as 
plainly  as  if  it  had  been  shouted  in  their  ear.  They 
could  no  more  get  lost  in  a  wilderness  than  a  white 
man  could  get  lost  on  a  highway." 

Their  accustomed  moccasins  could  move  silently  and 
surely  among  dried  twigs  and  dead  leaves.  The 
"broken  dried  twig"  of  fiction  has  become  somewhat 
of  a  joke,  its  mention  occurs  so  often,  yet  any  one  who 
has  done  any  still  hunting  in  the  forest  knows  that 
this  is  the  most  frequent,  the  most  difficult  to  avoid, 
and  the  loudest  and  most  advertising  of  any  of  the 
minor  accidents.  The  ability  to  move  with  absolute 
silence  is  a  rare  gift.  Savages  shared  it  with  cougars 
and  wildcats. 

And  so  in  this  pathless  blinded  forest,  where  every 
tree  trunk,  every  leafy  bush,  every  stone  was  a  ready- 
made  ambush,  where  thousands  of  obstacles  to  easy 
travel  made  the  clumsy  white  man  as  obvious  as  a 
circus  parade,  the  Indians  moved,  invisible,  silent, 
watching  their  foes  with  fierce  contempt,  awaiting  the 
moment  to  strike.  For  days  they  would  follow  a 
party  as  wolves  follow  a  herd,  skulking  unsuspected, 
leaving  a  trail  that  only  an  expert  could  recognize. 


114        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

They  were  never  as  good  shots  with  the  rifle  as  a 
white  hunter;  and  as  a  rule  they  were  not  as  strong 
physically  in  a  rough-and-tumble;  but  they  were 
better  shots  than  the  regular  soldiers,  and  a  hand-to- 
hand  combat  with  knife  and  tomahawk  they  never 
avoided,  and  often  won.  They  had  superior  endur- 
ance. Their  ability  to  travel  long  distances  enabled 
them  to  strike  unexpectedly,  and  far  from  their  own 
villages.  They  appeared  silently  from  unknown 
forests,  robbed  and  murdered,  and  disappeared. 
There  was  always  the  utmost  difficulty  in  following 
them,  and  nobody  could  guess  where  next  they  would 
attack.  Add  to  these  things  their  cunning  and  quiet 
stealth,  their  courage  and  skill  in  fight,  and  the 
fiendish  cruelty  of  their  deeds,  you  cannot  wonder  that 
the  settlers  looked  on  them  as  devils  out  of  the  black 
forest. 

Now  can  you  longer  wonder  that  when  Braddock  or 
Grant  led  into  this  wilderness  the  very  best  white 
troops  trained  in  European  warfare,  they  were  not 
only  defeated,  but  massacred.^  They  were  helpless. 
They  could  not  stray  thirty  yards  from  the  column 
without  getting  lost;  and  a  column  offered  only  too 
fair  a  mark  to  the  savages.  They  could  never  catch 
the  smallest  glimpse  of  the  silently  flitting  foe.  The 
Indians  attacked  such  clustered  huddled  opponents 
without  the  slightest  hesitation,  shooting  them  down 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        115 

as  they  would  herded  buffalo.  The  soldiers  might 
as  well  have  been  blindfolded.  It  was  only  when  the 
trained  borderers  took  a  hand  that  the  white  man 
made  head,  slowly.  And  now  you  can  understand 
more  clearly  what  it  means  when  you  are  told  that 
Boone,  Kenton,  Mansker,  and  their  contemporaries 
beat  the  Indian  at  his  own  game. 


CHAPTER  X 

WITH  a  full  knowledge  of  the  dangers  and 
horrors  of  any  determined  Indian  warfare 
before  him,  Daniel  Boone  knew  better  than 
to  push  forward  into  the  new  Paradise  without  some 
sort  of  backing;  and  as  at  present  it  seemed  impossible 
to  get  that,  he  settled  down  in  the  Clinch  Valley  as 
patiently  as  he  could  to  await  the  turn  of  events. 

Now  it  happened  that  in  those  times,  as  to-day, 
it  was  the  custom  after  a  war  was  over  to  give  the 
soldiers  who  had  fought  in  that  war  a  bounty  or 
bonus.  This  took  the  form  of  lands.  After  the 
French  war,  that  preceded  the  Revolution,  the  cus- 
tom had  been  followed,  and  Virginia  had  located  her 
bounty  lands  in  Kentucky !  To  be  sure  nobody  could 
get  at  that  land;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  re- 
ported to  be  very  rich,  so  it  would  probably  be 
valuable  some  day.  The  legislators  had  no  concern 
with  ways  and  means.  "Here,"  they  told  the 
soldier,  "the  land  is  there:  for  we  have  been  reliably 
informed  as  to  that  fact.  We  have  voted  it  to  you. 
It  is  none  of  our  business  how  you  get  it — or  whether 
you  ever  get  it." 

116 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        117 

But  at  that  time  a  man  named  Lord  Dunmore 
was  Governor  of  Virginia.  He  was  much  hated  and 
vilified  later,  when  his  loyalty  to  his  own  country 
impelled  him  quite  naturally  to  take  the  British  side, 
but  he  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  vision  and  of 
energy.  He,  too,  was  much  taken  with  the  stories  of 
the  new  West;  and  in  1772  he  had  made  arrangements 
to  explore  in  company  with  George  Washington. 
The  expedition  fell  through,  but  both  Washington — 
as  a  friend  of  the  soldier;  and  Dunmore — as  being 
interested  in  opening  new  country  for  his  colony  of 
Virginia — occupied  themselves  in  making  more  defi- 
nite the  rather  vague  bounty  claims.  To  this  end 
they  sent  in  surveyors. 

These  bold  and  hardy  men  under  an  expert  woods- 
man named  Thomas  Bullitt,  and  including  many 
names  later  famous,  made  their  way  down  the  Ohio 
River  to  the  Falls;  following  thus  the  custom  of  tak- 
ing the  easy  routes  by  waterway.  Here  they  built 
a  fortified  camp  and  proceeded  methodically  about 
their  business. 

This  was  in  1773.  The  next  year,  as  these  were 
unmolested,  other  surveyors  were  sent  in;  and  Captain 
James  Harrod  with  a  party  of  forty-one  men  came 
down  the  Ohio  River  looking  out  possible  locations  for 
the  bounty  land.  Another  party  came  up  the  Ken- 
tucky River  to  about  the  present  site  of  Louisville. 


118        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

None  of  these  men  brought  their  famiHes  nor  any  of 
their  household  goods.  They  were  exactly  like  the 
hunting  parties  who  had  preceded  them,  except  that 
they  had  other  thoughts  in  view  besides  the  pursuit  of 
game  and  pelts. 

You  may  be  sure  the  Indians  viewed  these  en- 
croachments with  uneasiness.  They  had  not  yet 
come  to  the  point  of  declaring  an  open  war  nor 
advancing  on  these  rather  strong  bands  of  white  men 
in  suflBcient  force  to  destroy  them;  but  raiding  parties 
of  young  men  were  constantly  on  the  warpath  or  on 
horse-stealing  expeditions — a  favourite  form  of  sport. 
Lonely  cabins  on  the  east  side  of  the  mountains  were 
attacked  and  their  occupants  killed  or  carried  cap- 
tive. Many  white  people  were  thus  slain  before  a 
drop  of  Shawnee  blood  was  shed.  The  borderers 
grew  more  and  more  exasperated  and  surly  at  these 
swift  blows  struck  in  the  dark  by  an  enemy  who 
disappeared  before  the  blow  could  be  countered. 
Once  in  a  while  they  set  forth  in  retaliation,  and  then 
the  chances  were  nine  out  of  ten  that  they  killed  the 
wrong  Indians,  which  made  them  still  more  enemies. 
Everything  was  ripe  for  a  grand  explosion.  The 
whites  were  anxious  for  a  war  that  would  settle  these 
forays;  the  Shawnees  and  Mingos  were  haughty  and 
yet  at  the  same  time  uneasy  over  the  w^estward  ad- 
vance of  the  whites;  Lord  Dunmore  desired  to  add 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        119 

definitely  the  Kentucky  lands  to  his  Colony  of 
Virginia,  and  at  the  same  time,  probably,  in  view 
of  the  increasing  trouble  with  England,  he  would 
have  been  delighted  to  distract  the  Virginians'  minds 
by  an  Indian  war.  All  that  was  needed  was  an 
excuse. 

Lord  Dunmore  saw  plainly  that  the  excuse  could 
not  be  long  wanting,  and  that  if  the  surveying  parties 
in  the  back  country  were  not  to  perish  in  the  first 
blast  of  the  tempest,  they  must  be  immediately 
warned.  In  this  need  he  sent  for  Daniel  Boone, 
whose  name  was  already  well  known,  and  whose 
daring  journey  was  celebrated.  As  Boone  expresses 
it.  Lord  Dunmore  "solicited"  him  to  go  in  to  warn 
the  surveyors. 

"I  immediately  complied  with  the  Governor's 
request,"  says  Boone  simply. 

He  picked  out  one  of  his  acquaintance  named 
Stoner,  another  master  woodcraftsman,  and  the 
two  started  on  their  journey.  It  was  doubly  peril- 
ous, not  only  because  of  the  growing  hostility  of  the 
Indians,  but  also  because  the  necessity  for  making 
speed  rendered  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  as  care- 
ful as  usual. 

It  was  a  most  extraordinary  feat,  for  it  covered 
over  eight  hundred  miles  and  was  completed  in  two 
months.     It  was  entirely  overland,  for  the  easier 


120        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

water  routes — along  which  the  surveyors  had  en- 
tered— were  now  closed  by  Indians.  They  found 
and  visited  all  the  surveyors'  camps,  no  light  feat  in 
itself,  and  they  warned  Captain  Harrod  and  his 
party  of  landlookers.  Boone,  with  characteristic 
far-sightedness,  lost  no  opportunity  of  getting  more 
first-hand  information  of  the  land.  So  pressing 
was  the  need  of  this  warning  that  only  a  few  days 
after  Boone's  arrival  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  while 
the  surveyors  and  settlers  were  breaking  camp  get- 
ting ready  to  go,  a  number  of  them  who  had  gone  to 
the  spring  for  water  were  attacked  suddenly.  The 
survivors  had  to  scatter  and  escape  as  best  they 
could.  One  man,  with  the  Indians  about  two  jumps 
behind  him,  fled  along  an  Indian  trail  and  shortly 
arrived  at  the  Ohio  River.  Here,  at  the  end  of  the 
trail,  by  the  greatest  good  luck,  was  a  bark  canoe. 
He  flung  himself  into  it  and  shoved  off,  lying  low 
until  the  swift  current  at  this  part  of  the  river  had 
carried  him  out  of  range.  By  the  time  he  dared 
raise  his  head  he  was  far  down  stream,  around  many 
bends  and  headlands.  To  make  head  against  the 
force  of  the  stream,  with  probably  the  Indians  wait- 
ing for  him,  seemed  impossible;  especially  as  the 
fugitive  had  no  idea  whether  or  not  he  would  find 
his  comrades  still  living.  It  seemed  easier  to  keep 
on  going,  so  he  did.     In  the  bark  canoe  he  floated 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        121 

down  the  entire  length  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers,  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles,  and  in  some 
manner  made  his  way  up  the  Atlantic  coast  to 
Philadelphia.  It  was  certainly  a  roundabout  way 
to  get  home,  and  a  most  extraordinary  journey. 
The  time  was  summer,  so  that  wild  grapes  and  ber- 
ries were  plentiful;  besides  which,  like  all  frontiers- 
men who  never  stirred  step  without  rifle,  he  was 
armed. 

By  secret  ways  and  with  great  dangers  and 
natural  difficulties  avoided  Boone  led  his  little  band 
across  the  mountains  and  safe  to  civilization.  The 
Hunter  himself  remarked  that  they  overcame  "many 
obstacles,"  which  was  an  emphatic  statement  from 
him.  Considering  the  fact  that  during  his  absence 
war  had  finally  blazed  in  all  its  fury,  so  that  now 
must  be  avoided  an  aroused  and  active  foe,  Boone's 
successful  conduct  of  this  party  was  truly  remarkable. 

During  his  absence  the  needed  spark  had  been 
struck  that  should  fire  the  tinder  so  long  prepared. 
At  that  time  one  of  the  most  noted  men  on  the 
border,  red  or  white,  was  Logan,  an  Iroquois,  but 
now  chief  among  the  Senecas  and  Mingos.  He  was 
a  man  of  very  high  character,  a  great  orator,  a  man 
of  vision  and  intelligence,  one  who  knew  the  in- 
tegrity of  his  word  and  his  honour.  An  individual 
named   Lowden   has    told    us    that   he   considered 


122        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

"Logan  the  best  specimen  of  humanity  he  ever  met 
with  either  white  or  red,"  which  is  remarkable 
praise  in  that  day  when  borderers  like  Lowden 
looked  on  "savages"  with  contempt.  Logan  was  a 
noble  specimen  of  a  man,  over  six  feet  tall,  straight 
as  a  pine  tree,  with  an  open  and  kindly  expression. 
He  had  ever  been  the  friend  of  the  whites,  using 
always  all  his  influence  for  peace,  and  doing  for  them 
all  the  kindly  deeds  in  his  power.  Especially  was 
he  a  friend  of  children,  noted  for  his  gentleness  to 
them.  Nor  was  he  less  celebrated  for  his  manly 
qualities.  He  was  a  good  shot,  and  as  mighty  a 
hunter  as  Boone  himself.  Throughout  the  whole 
border  he  was  liked  by  everybody,  and  treated  by 
everybody  with  the  greatest  respect,  for  his  manner 
was  said  to  have  been  informed  with  a  grave  and 
lofty  courtesy  that  seemed  to  exact  an  equal  courtesy 
in  return,  even  from  the  roughest  men.  It  has  been 
told  of  him  that  "he  was  greatly  liked  and  respected 
by  all  the  white  hunters  and  frontiersmen  whose 
friendship  and  respect  were  worth  having:  they 
admired  him  for  his  dexterity  and  prowess,  and  they 
loved  him  for  his  straightforward  honesty  and  his 
noble  loyalty  to  his  friends." 

Now  just  at  this  time  three  traders  were  attacked 
by  some  outlaw  Cherokees,  outlaw  from  even  their 
own  tribe;  one  was  killed,  one  wounded,  and  their 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        123 

goods  were  stolen.  Orders  were  issued  by  Lord 
Dunmore's  lieutenant  to  the  borderers  to  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  to  repel  any  attack  by  the  Indians. 
On  the  strength  of  that,  some  of  the  reckless  and 
lawless  borderers  started  out  to  kill  perfectly  friendly 
and  innocent  Indians.  And  by  what  must  seem 
always  the  most  evil  of  all  injustice,  every  member 
of  Logan's  family  was  most  brutally  murdered,  nine 
in  all,  down  to  the  last  child.  All  these  retaliatory 
killings  fell  on  friendly  Indians. 

Immediately  the  flames  of  war  blazed  up.  Swift 
runners  loped  through  the  forest  carrying  the  news 
to  distant  tribes.  The  war  poles  were  struck  in 
many  villages;  and  to  the  command  of  Cornstalk, 
the  greatest  of  the  war  chiefs,  came  practically 
every  warrior  of  four  powerful  tribes:  the  Shawnees, 
the  Delawares,  the  Mingos,  and  the  Wyandotts. 
To  the  Indians,  proud  and  warlike,  and  firmly  con- 
vinced that  they  could  conquer  the  whites  and  bar 
them  from  the  country,  the  time  seemed  to  have 
come  for  the  supreme  ejBPort. 

Logan  did  not  wait  for  his  own  revenge.  On 
learning  of  the  slaughter  of  his  family  he  gathered 
together  a  small  band  of  Mingo  warriors  and  fell 
on  the  settlement.  He  took  there  thirteen  scalps. 
A  party  pursued;  but  he  ambushed  them  cleverly, 
and  defeated  them,  taking  more  scalps.     Before  the 


124        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

war  had  become  general  he  made  at  least  four  of 
these  bloody  raids,  perhaps  more,  burning,  toma- 
hawking, killing,  and  disappearing  again  as  he  had 
come.  He  was  a  wolf,  sombre  and  terrible.  Yet 
even  in  this  paroxysm  of  grief,  anger,  and  revenge  his 
nobler  qualities  were  not  submerged.  He  was  out 
to  kill  in  his  madness;  yet  when  a  prisoner  was 
captured  he  refused  to  permit  torture,  and  risked 
his  own  life  to  save  the  captive.  A  few  days  later 
he  came  to  this  white  man  bringing  a  quill,  some 
paper,  and  ink  made  of  gunpowder.  Under  dic- 
tation the  prisoner  wrote  a  short  note  addressed  to 
Captain  Cresap,  whom  Logan  supposed  to  be  the 
murderer  of  his  family.  This  was  a  mistake.  A 
trader  named  Greathouse  had  committed  the  deed. 
Then  Logan  made  another  raid,  murdered  the  entire 
family  of  a  white  settler,  and  left  the  note  tied  to  a 
war  club.  It  read: 
"Captain  Cresap: 

What  did  you  kill  my  people  on  Yellow  Creek  for? 
The  white  people  killed  my  kin  at  Conestoga,  a 
great  while  ago,  and  I  thought  nothing  of  that.  But 
you  killed  my  kin  again  at  Yellow  Creek,  and  took 
my  cousin  prisoner.  Then  I  thought  I  must  kill, 
too;  and  I  have  been  three  times  to  war  since;  but  the 
Indians  are  not  angry,  only  myself." 

The  great  Seneca  chief  was  wrong:  the  Indians 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        125 

were  angry;  and  from  the  swarm  that  was  gathering 
at  Cornstalk's  camp  large  bands  detached  themselves 
and  fell  upon  the  border.  Terrible  were  the  ravages. 
The  settlers,  gathered  in  the  forts,  could  no  longer 
hunt,  could  no  longer  cultivate  their  farms  except 
at  the  deadly  peril  of  their  lives.  Yet  life  must  go 
on  in  spite  of  the  danger.  Houses  were  burned, 
crops  destroyed,  prisoners  tortured.  No  one  knew 
where  a  blow  was  to  fall  next.  The  forests  were 
full  of  danger.  Stealth  and  ferocity,  as  usual, 
characterized  the  forays.  The  marauders  appeared 
out  of  a  quiet  peace  before  their  proximity  could 
be  suspected,  and  disappeared  as  suddenly.  They 
left  no  trail  that  could  be  successfully  followed;  nor, 
in  the  presence  of  the  large  bodies  that  now  roamed 
the  forests,  was  a  pursuing  party  of  a  size  any 
settlement  could  send  out  safe  against  being  over- 
whelmed and  massacred.  And  behind  them  they 
left  a  waste  of  charred  timbers  and  of  scalped  and 
mangled  corpses.  Not  in  isolated  places  and  oc- 
casionally were  these  scenes  enacted,  as  heretofore; 
but  anywhere,  everywhere,  at  any  time,  so  that 
from  end  to  end  the  border  was  vocal  with 
demoniac  war  whoops  and  shrieks  of  the  victims, 
lurid  with  the  glare  of  burning  buildings  and  the 
rolling  smokes  of  fires.  In  the  dark  woodlands 
were  many  desperate  combats;  for  the  whites,  in  a 


126        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

frenzy  of  anger  so  much  the  stronger  as  it  was  for 
the  moment  powerless,  went  forth  in  Httle  bands 
seeking  revenge.  As  the  Indians  were  confident 
and  full  of  the  pride  of  success  some  of  these  woodland 
skirmishes  were  very  deadly. 

The  border  quailed  before  the  fury  of  the  storm, 
but  it  did  not  break.  Lord  Dunmore  realized  that 
this  was  a  mattef  to  be  settled  decisively  not  nibbled 
at;  and  like  a  wise  commander  he  was  making  ade- 
quate preparations.  These  took  time.  By  way 
of  a  diversion  he  advised  the  frontiersmen  to  or- 
ganize a  raid  on  their  own  account,  not  with  the  idea 
of  conquering  the  Indians,  but  to  keep  them  a  little 
busy.  Four  hundred  of  them  gathered  under  Angus 
McDonald,  crossed  the  Ohio  River  a  little  over  a 
hundred  miles  below  where  Pittsburg  stands,  and 
marched  to  the  Muskingum  River,  in  Ohio,  where 
there  were  several  Shawnee  towns.  If  you  will 
look  at  the  map,  you  will  see'that  this  was  sneaking 
in  on  them  by  way  of  the  back  door.  Most  of  the 
Shawnee  warriors  were  away  on  other  business. 
The  expedition  had  a  smart  fight  with  those  who 
remained,  took  five  scalps — white  men  scalped  as 
well  as  savages — burned  the  villages,  destroyed  a 
lot  of  standing  corn,  and  returned.  The  Shawnees 
tried  to  ambush  them  on  their  way  home,  but  failed. 
The  expedition  was  successful  in  drawing  off  some 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        127 

of  the  warriors  to  defend  their  own  homes,  and  as  a 
demonstration  that  the  villages  were  not  quite  as 
safe  as  they  had  thought.  This  was  just  about  the 
time  Boone  had  reached  the  surveyors  at  the  Falls. 

While  all  this  was  going  on  Lord  Dunmore  was 
getting  what  was  for  those  days  a  really  formidable 
army.  It  was  about  three  thousand  strong.  One 
wing  of  it  was  to  be  under  Dunmore  himself.  The 
other,  composed  entirely  of  frontiersmen,  was  com- 
manded by  General  Andrew  Lewis.  The  two  wings 
were  to  march  by  separate  routes  and  join  forces 
at  the  mouth  of  a  river  called  the  Great  Kanawha, 
a  stream  that  flowed  into  the  Ohio  River  south  of 
the  most  populous  Indian  villages.  From  there  they 
would  penetrate  the  Indian's  country  and  give  him 
a  taste  of  his  own  medicine. 

Matters  were  in  this  condition  when  Boone  and 
Stoner  returned  with  the  surveyors.  Boone  at 
once  proceeded  to  raise  a  company  of  riflemen  and 
was  about  to  march  to  join  Lord  Dunmore  when  he 
received  instructions  that  in  recognition  of  his 
services  he  had  been  commissioned  as  captain  and 
had  been  given  the  very  responsible  job  of  command- 
ing the  frontier  forts.  While  the  expedition  was  on 
its  way  to  bring  terror  to  the  Indian  villages  Boone 
must  assure  our  own  from  counter-attack.  He  was 
very  busy  at  it.     So  large  a  proportion  of  the  men 


128        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

had  gone  to  join  Dunmore  that  Boone's  garrisons 
were  small,  and  had  to  be  eked  out  with  the  boys 
and  old  men.  Boone  himself  was  continually  pass- 
ing stealthily  from  one  to  another,  generally  at 
night.  His  scouts  were  flung  far  out  into  the  forest 
to  give  early  warning  of  an  attack.  Instead  of 
dividing  and  scattering  his  effective  forces  among 
the  different  forts,  he  trained  a  compact  body  of 
riflemen,  and  these  he  held  ready  always  to  move 
swiftly  in  aid  when  the  outrunners  brought  news 
that  any  of  the  forts  were  attacked.  In  the  military 
correspondence  of  that  summer  he  is  frequently 
mentioned  in  terms  of  the  highest  praise,  even  the 
usually  scornful  British  officers  speaking  of  him  in 
'*a  respectful  and  even  deferential  tone."  A  con- 
temporary writer  tells  of  him  as  a  familiar  figure 
throughout  the  valley,  as  he  hurried  to  and  fro  on 
his  duties,  "dressed  in  deerskin  coloured  black,  and 
his  hair  plaited  and  clubbed  up."  There  were 
alarms  and  attacks  and  short  sieges  in  all  of  which 
the  Scout's  especial  abilities  came  into  better  play 
than  they  would  had  he  been  merely  one  of  Lord 
Dunmore's  army. 

Nevertheless,  we  can  imagine  his  regret  at  not 
being  with  the  main  expedition,  in  spite  of  his  well- 
known  placidity  of  temper  and  philosophy  of  view. 

In    the    meantime,   something   had    occurred    to 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        129 

change  the  original  plan.  You  remember  Lord 
Dunmore's  section  and  General  Lewis's  section  were 
to  march  by  separate  routes  and  meet  at  the  junction 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Kanawha  rivers.  Suddenly 
Dunmore,  who  was  at  Fort  Pitt  with  nineteen 
hundred  of  the  total  of  three  thousand  men,  de- 
cided that  he  would  not  join  Lewis  as  planned,  but 
instead  floated  down  the  Ohio  in  flatboats,  built 
some  log  forts,  and  started  on  a  raid  of  his  own  toward 
some  Indian  villages  farther  west.  His  troops  were 
mainly  Colonials,  the  most  of  the  borderers  being 
with  Lewis;  but  he  had  under  his  command  a  number 
of  famous  scouts,  among  whom  were  George  Rogers 
Clark,  Cresap,  and  Simon  Kenton.  He  managed 
to  destroy  a  few  towns,  but  the  decisive  engagement 
was  denied  him. 

The  other  section  under  Lewis  gathered  at  the 
Great  Levels  of  Greenbriar,  and  was  almost  com- 
pletely composed  of  backwoodsmen,  "heroes  of  long 
rifle,  tomahawk,  and  hunting  shirt,  gathering  from 
every  stockaded  hamlet,  every  lonely  clearing  and 
smoky  hunter's  camp.  They  were  not  uniformed, 
save  that  they  all  wore  the  garb  of  the  frontier 
hunter;  but  most  of  them  were  armed  with  good 
rifles,  and  were  skilful  woodsmen."  They  were 
gathered  on  an  errand  that  appealed  to  the  very 
heart  of  them.     For  years  and  years  they  had  been 


130        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

forced  to  live  in  the  strain  of  perpetual  watchfulness, 
never  knowing  where  tragedy  was  going  to  strike 
next,  each  with  terrible  memories  seared  into  his 
soul.  They  had  been  brought  up  in  the  shadows  of 
stockades  around  which  prowled  the  darker  shadows 
of  an  enemy  who  struck  unexpectedly  and  whose 
face  was  rarely  seen.  Nor  were  they  able  to  strike 
back  except  in  a  feeble  way.  They  could,  and  did, 
resist  direct  attack;  they  could  in  small  bands  fol- 
low, for  a  short  distance,  the  retreating  maraud- 
ers; but  that  was  all.  Ever  had  they  to  return, 
their  hearts  burning  with  sullen  anger,  their  souls 
bitter.  Now  at  last  they  were  to  be  gathered  in 
sufficient  numbers  to  do  something.  Eagerly  they 
assembled  at  Great  Levels.  The  difficulty  was  not 
to  get  enough  men;  but  to  keep  enough  back  to 
defend  the  settlements. 

These  borderers  were  in  many  respects  the  most 
formidable  fighters,  but  they  had  one  serious  fault: 
They  were  utterly  undisciplined.  To  do  anything 
really  effective  with  a  body  of  men,  you  must  have 
teamwork.  No  matter  whether  or  not  the  in- 
dividual thinks  his  commander  is  stupid,  incom- 
petent, and  a  dodo,  and  that  he  could  avoid  all  those 
obvious  mistakes,  he  must  follow  implicitly  that 
commander's  orders.  A  very  poor  plan  carried  out 
well  is  better  than  a  very  good  plan  carried  out 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        131 

badly.  We  all  know  that:  but  in  those  days  when 
each  man  was  a  law  to  himself,  when  each  man  was 
accustomed  not  only  to  forming  his  own  opinions 
but  to  acting  on  them  without  interference,  the  re- 
sult was  an  unruly  and  turbulent  gathering.  The 
officers  were  obeyed  just  so  far  as  their  orders 
seemed  reasonable  to  the  individual  fighter  or  to  the 
extent  that  he  had  personal  influence  or  popularity. 
If  the  frontiersman  did  not  happen  to  like  the  way 
things  were  going,  he  often  went  home  without 
further  ado.  If  he  thought  he  had  a  better  idea  than 
the  one  embodied  in  the  orders  given  by  one  of  his 
officers,  he  shouted  it  forth;  and  if  enough  of  his 
companions  thought  so,  too,  why  they  did  it,  orders  or 
no  orders.  This  often  brought  about  disaster,  as  we 
shall  see  when  we  come  to  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks. 

In  view  of  the  discipline  we  have  imposed  on  our- 
selves, because  we  know  it  to  be  the  effective  thing, 
the  following  account  is  interesting.  Imagine  now- 
adays a  colonel  being  thus  treated  by  a  private! 
Twenty  years  in  Leavenworth  for  him !  The  private 
was  named  Abraham  Thomas,  a  borderer,  aged 
eighteen;  and  Colonel  McDonald,  a  British  officer 
in  command.      Thomas  wrote: 

"While  laying  here,  a  violent  storm  through  the 
night  had  wet  our  arms,  and  M 'Donald  ordered  the 
men  to  discharge  them  in  a  hollow  log,  to  deaden  the 


132        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

report.  My  rifle  would  not  go  off,  and  I  took  the 
barrel  out  to  unbreech  it.  In  doing  this  I  made 
some  noise  beating  it  with  my  tomahawk,  on  which 
M 'Donald  came  toward  me,  swearing,  with  an  up- 
lifted cane,  threatening  to  strike.  I  instantly  arose 
on  my  feet,  with  the  rifle  barrel  in  my  hand,  and 
stood  in  an  attitude  of  defense.  We  looked  each 
other  in  the  eyes  for  some  time;  at  last  he  dropped 
his  cane  and  walked  off,  while  the  whole  troop  set 
up  a  laugh, crying, 'The  boy  has  scared  the  Colonel!' " 

Another  incident: 

"During  this  battle  one  of  the  men,  Jacob  New- 
bold,  saw  the  Colonel  lying  snug  behind  a  tree." 
A  perfectly  proper  proceeding  in  this  sort  of  war- 
fare. "It  was  immediately  noised  among  the  men, 
who  were  in  high  glee  at  the  joke:  one  would  cry 
out,  *Who  got  behind  the  log?'  when  a  hundred  voices 
would  reply.  The  Colonel!  the  Colonel!'  At  this 
M'Donald  became  outrageous;  I  heard  him  inquire 
for  the  man  who  had  raised  the  report,  and  threaten 
to  punish  him."  This  was  reported  to  Newbold  who 
*' raising  on  his  feet  and  going  toward  the  Colonel, 
he  declared  he  did  see  him  slink  behind  the  log  during 
the  battle;  he  gave  his  rifle  to  a  man  standing  by, 
cut  some  hickories,  and  stood  on  the  defense,  at 
which  the  whole  company  roared  with  laughter." 
Twenty  years  in  Leavenworth?    Forty!    But  it  is 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        133 

related  of  the  Colonel  that  he  merely  "took  himself 
off  to  another  part  of  the  line." 

To  make  such  a  body  effective  you  must  either 
have  a  leader  whose  reputation  and  experience  are 
such  that  even  these  rough,  cocksure  men  will  obey 
them — such  as  Clark  or  Boone — or  else  you  must 
have  a  great  welding  emotion  that  brings  them  firmly 
together  in  a  common  cause. 

In  this  case  it  was  the  common  cause. 

The  Indians,  of  course,  were  well  aware  of  this 
gathering,  and  they  were  making  their  preparations 
in  all  confidence.  As  we  have  said,  they  had  every 
belief  that  they  would  eventually  conquer  the  white 
man;  and  they  based  this  belief  on  just  the  trait 
we  have  been  discussing.  The  white  man  seemed 
to  be  unable  to  do  any  teamwork.  Time  and  again 
the  watchful  chiefs  had  seen  their  opponents  come 
to  grief  because  of  their  dissensions.  This  was  the 
first  time  the  borderers  had  ever  got  together  ani- 
mated by  a  single  strong  purpose,  and  the  arrogant 
redmen  were  as  yet  unaware  of  what  that  meant. 
It  still  seemed  to  them  that  by  the  old  good  tactics 
of  defeating  their  enemy  piecemeal  they  were  again 
to  win  by  the  usual  great  slaughter.  Indeed,  the 
change  of  plan  by  which  Lord  Dunmore  failed  to 
join  Lewis  seemed  to  them  another  example  of  the 
same  thing,  and  they  hastened  to  take  advantage. 


134        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

The  war  chief  was  Cornstalk.  He  was  as  cele- 
brated and  as  remarkable  in  his  way  as  Logan,  a  man 
of  great  intelligence,  high  honour,  widespread  in- 
fluence, and  military  capacity.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  Indians  at  this  time  far-sighted  enough  to  real- 
ize the  actual  situation  and  to  estimate  the  white 
man's  powers.  Nobody  doubted  Cornstalk's  cour- 
age, nor  his  loyalty  to  his  own  people;  so  in  spite  of 
his  continued  and  strong  opposition  to  this  war, 
when  once  it  was  decided  on  there  was  no  question 
but  that  he  would  be  its  mihtary  leader.  He  was, 
indeed,  a  statesman  of  high  order,  a  great  orator,  a 
far-sighted  seer  who  only  too  plainly  foresaw  the 
doom  of  his  people.  In  the  councils  he  steadily  set 
his  advice  against  the  war;  but  when  it  was  decided 
by  vote  he  exclaimed:  "Then  since  you  are  resolved 
to  fight,  you  shall  fight.  But  if  any  warrior  shall 
attempt  to  run  away,  I  shall  kill  him  with  my  own 
hand." 

In  the  failure  of  Dunmore  to  join  forces  with 
Lewis  he  saw  a  chance  to  carry  out  his  favourite 
tactics,  to  cut  up  his  enemy  in  detail.  As  Lewis 
had  with  him  only  eleven  hundred  men,  while  the 
Earl  commanded  some  nineteen  hundred,  Cornstalk 
resolved  to  attack  the  former.  In  doing  so  it  is 
probable  he  made  a  mistake,  for  Lewis's  men  were 
nearly    all    border   fighters,    accustomed    to    forest 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        135 

warfare,  while  most  of  Lord  Dunmore's  army  were 
from  nearer  the  seaboard.  At  this  sort  of  combat 
one  of  the  former  was  worth  three — or  more — of 
the  latter.  On  the  other  hand,  he  may  have  reasoned 
that  Lewis  was  less  likely  to  be  prepared. 

At  any  rate,  Cornstalk,  as  prompt  to  execute  as 
he  was  wise  to  plan,  led  his  long  "Indian  files"  of 
painted  warriors  rapidly  across  country.  He  had 
with  him  somewhere  about  a  thousand  of  the  picked 
young  men  of  various  tribes,  some  from  as  far  even 
as  the  Great  Lakes.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  even 
here  he  was  outnumbered. 

In  the  meantime,  Lewis's  army  was  on  the  march. 
It  was,  as  we  have  said,  composed  almost  entirely 
of  backwoodsmen;  officers  and  men  dressed  alike  in 
the  hunting  costume,  fringed  shirts,  fur  caps  or  felt 
hats,  moccasins,  often  leggings  and  breech  clout. 
They  were  armed  with  their  rifles,  their  tomahawks, 
and  their  knives  with  which  they  took  scalps  as 
eagerly  as  did  the  savages.  Unlike  the  Indians,  how- 
ever, they  did  not  travel  merely  with  what  they  could 
carry  on  their  backs.  This  was  to  be  a  long  and 
decisive  campaign; they  did  not  intend  to  return  home 
until  they  had  finished  the  job ;  and  so  it  is  on  record 
that  they  drove  beef  cattle  and  had  hundreds  of 
packhorses  laden  with  flour  and  munitions.  With 
men  inexperienced,  or  partly  experienced,  in  these 


136        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

dense  forests,  such  an  incumbrance  would  have 
offered  fatal  opportunities  for  surprise  and  massacre. 
Braddock's  campaign  is  the  classic  example.  But 
these  men  knew  how.  They  marched  in  many 
single-file  columns  well  separated,  with  scouts 
flung  well  out  in  front  and  on  the  flanks,  with  axe- 
men to  clear  a  way  for  the  animals.  No  matter 
from  which  side  the  Indians  might  attack,  this 
arrangement  would  offer  the  thin,  widely  extended 
line  most  effective  in  forest  fighting.  They  cut 
straight  across  the  unbroken  wilderness,  making 
their  route  as  they  went.  In  about  three  weeks  they 
had  arrived  at  the  upper  waters  of  the  Kanawha. 
Here  they  stopped  a  week  to  build  canoes,  of  which 
they  made  twenty-seven.  Part  of  the  army  then 
floated  down  stream  while  the  remainder  marched. 
Still  another  week  later  they  came  to  the  mouth  of 
the  river  and  camped  on  the  point  of  land. 

Here  Cornstalk  attacked  them;  and  here  took 
place  one  of  the  most  desperate  Indian  battles  in 
history,  stubbornly  fought  out  on  a  small  space  of 
ground,  the  lines  alternately  swaying  back  and  forth 
as  attacks  gained  or  leaders  fell.  "The  fight,"  says 
Roosevelt,  "was  a  succession  of  single  combats, 
each  man  sheltering  himself  behind  a  stump,  or  rock, 
or  tree  trunk."  The  battle  lines,  while  over  a  mile 
long,  were  drawn  so  closely  together  in  the  thick 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        137 

underbrush  of  the  forest  that  never  were  they  more 
than  twenty  yards  apart.  Again  and  again  the 
individual  foemen,  having  discharged  their  rifles, 
would  leap  on  each  other  in  deadly  struggle  with 
tomahawk  and  knife.  The  woods  were  filled  with 
the  noises  of  battle,  the  smack  and  clatter  of  the 
rifles,  the  wild  yells  and  war  whoops  of  the  fighters, 
the  cries  of  the  badly  wounded,  and  the  jeers  and 
taunts  of  the  adversaries.  To  insult  your  enemy 
was  as  customary  in  those  days  as  it  was  in  the  times 
of  Homer.  It  is  related  that  Colonel  Field  "was 
at  the  time  behind  a  great  tree,  and  was  shot  by  two 
Indians  on  his  right,  while  he  was  trying  to  get  a 
shot  at  another  on  his  left  who  was  distracting  his 
attention  by  mocking  and  jeering  at  him."  And, 
*'The  Indians  also  called  out  to  the  Americans  in 
broken  English,  taunting  them,  and  asking  them 
why  their  fifes  were  no  longer  whistling — for  the 
fight  was  far  too  close  to  permit  of  any  such  mu- 
sic." And  up  through  the  straight  trunks  and 
leafy  branches  floated  and  eddied  the  white  powder 
smoke. 

The  Indians  were,  it  is  the  universal  testimony, 
remarkably  well  handled.  Their  headmen  walked 
up  and  down  behind  the  lines,  holding  their  war- 
riors fast,  exhorting  them  to  close  in,  to  aim  care- 
fully, to  keep  courage.     And  all  day  long  the  white 


138        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

men  could  hear  Cornstalk's  deep  and  resonant 
voice  booming  out  the  words:  "Be  strong!  Be 
strong!" 

Manoeuvres  of  tactics  were  promptly  carried  out. 
Against  any  other  army  in  the  world  but  just  this 
one  the  Indians  would  undoubtedly  have  won  an- 
other of  their  spectacular  and  bloody  victories. 
But  these  backwoodsmen  were  stubborn  and  skil- 
ful; they  recked  little  for  losses,  and  each  man  could 
care  for  himself.  And  since  in  the  long  day's  battle 
neither  side  broke,  at  the  close  of  the  afternoon  the 
Indians  slowly  withdrew. 

It  had  been  a  bloody,  hard-fought  battle.  On  the 
white  men  were  inflicted  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
casualties  out  of  the  eleven  hundred  engaged,  a  very 
severe  loss.  The  Indians  suffered  only  about  half  as 
heavily,  but  they  felt  it  more,  for  their  numbers  were 
fewer  and  they  had  no  great  reserve  to  depend  on. 
That  night  they  slipped  across  the  Ohio.  The 
Americans  were  far  too  exhausted  to  pursue  them. 
By  the  time  they  were  prepared  to  follow  up  their 
advantage  the  Indians  had  already  opened  nego- 
tiations for  peace  with  Lord  Dunmore. 

For  outside  the  very  severe  loss  in  the  battle,  a 
much  larger  loss  than  the  Indian  tactics  ordinarily 
permitted,  the  Indian  morale  had  received  a  severe 
shock.     The  redmen  had  heretofore  been  absolutely 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scont        139 

convinced  that  in  any  large  operation  they  could, 
in  the  forest,  whip  twice  their  number  of  whites,  and 
whip  them  so  badly  that  the  final  result  would  be  a 
rout  and  a  massacre.  They  were  fully  justified  in 
their  belief.  That's  the  way  it  had  happened  here- 
tofore; and  generally  because  of  some  asininity  in 
the  conduct  of  the  whites  so  glaring  that  the  Indian 
can  be  readily  excused  in  his  contempt.  About  the 
only  time  the  Indians  had  met  with  anything  like 
a  reverse  was  at  Bushy  Run  where  Bouquet,  even 
with  a  greatly  superior  force,  was  just  about  beaten 
when  he  was  saved  by  a  body  of  provincial  rangers, 
and  at  that  suffered  four  times  the  casualties  he 
inflicted.  But  here  they  had  met  a  nearly  equal 
force  of  white  men  and,  if  not  defeated,  had  failed 
to  gain  the  victory,  and  had  undergone  a  loss  they 
could  not  afford.  Their  mercurial  spirits  dropped 
into  the  profoundest  gloom.  A  day  before,  they  had 
in  the  arrogance  of  self-confidence  unreasonably 
seen  the  future  in  their  hands;  now  as  unreasonably 
they  went  to  the  other  extreme. 

Only  Cornstalk,  that  grim  old  chief,  was  un- 
daunted, still  ready  to  fight  it  out.  He  had  fore- 
seen this  result;  he  had  been  forced  into  the  war 
against  his  judgment;  but  now  he  alone  stood  erect 
at  the  council  fire  gazing  with  lofty  scorn  at  the 
circle  of  silent  blanketed   warriors,   who  stared  at 


140        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  ground  and  showed  not  one  flicker  of  response 
to  the  great  War  Chief's  stirring  eloquence. 

"What  shall  we  do  now?"  demanded  Cornstalk 
at  last.  "The  Long  Knives  are  coming.  Shall  we 
turn  out  and  fight  them.^" 

Silence. 

"Shall  we  kill  our  squaws  and  children,  and  then 
fight  until  we  are  killed  ourselves?"  persisted  the 
stern  old  warrior. 

Still  a  dead  silence. 

Cornstalk  suddenly  strode  forward  and  struck 
his  tomahawk  deeply  into  the  war  post. 

"Since  you  will  not  fight, I  will  myself  make  peace," 
said  he  bitterly. 

The  Indians  agreed  to  Lord  Dunmore's  terms. 
They  were  to  surrender  all  white  prisoners  and 
stolen  horses  then  in  the  tribes,  to  give  up  all  claim 
to  any  of  the  land  south  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  to 
furnish  hostages.  They  were  very  humble,  all  but 
Cornstalk.  He  agreed  to  the  conditions,  but  through- 
out all  the  meetings  his  manner  was  one  of  haughty 
defiance;  and  he  addressed  Lord  Dunmore  with  fierce 
reproach  and  a  fiery  disdain  that  showed  his  total 
personal  indifference  to  danger.  It  is  said  that: 
"The  Virginians,  who,  like  their  Indian  antagonists, 
prized  skill  in  oratory  only  less  than  skill  in  war- 
fare,   were    greatly    impressed    by    the    Chieftain's 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        141 

eloquence,  by  his  command  of  words,  his  clear 
distinct  voice,  his  peculiar  emphasis,  and  his  singu- 
larly grand  and  majestic  yet  graceful  bearing;  they 
afterwards  said  that  his  oratory  fully  equalled  that 
of  Patrick  Henry." 

Cornstalk,  however,  held  honourably  to  his  prom- 
ises, and  did  his  best  to  live  up  to  the  terms  of  peace. 
Indeed  in  that  manner  he  met  his  death;  for  less 
than  a  year  after  the  opening  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  he  came  in  to  the  fort  at  Mt.  Pleasant  to  tell  the 
commandant  that,  w^hile  he  was,  as  always,  anxious 
to  keep  the  peace,  the  Indians  were  headstrong, 
and  were  probably  about  to  go  to  war.  He  warned 
the  whites  that,  in  spite  of  his  sentiments,  if  they 
did  so,  he  would  of  course  have  to  be  true  to  his 
race  and  side  with  them.  He  and  his  companions 
stayed  on  as  a  sort  of  hostage  for  the  time  being. 
During  this  period,  says  Dodge,  "Cornstalk  held 
frequent  conversations  with  the  officers  and  took 
pleasure  in  describing  to  them  the  geography  of  the 
West,  then  little  known.  One  afternoon,  while  he 
was  engaged  in  drawing  on  the  floor  a  map  of  the 
Missouri  Territory,  its  watercourses  and  mountains, 
a  halloo  was  heard  from  the  forest,  which  he  recog- 
nized as  the  voice  of  his  son,  Ellinipsico,  a  young 
warrior,  whose  courage  and  address  were  almost  as 
celebrated  as  his  own."     The  son  had  become  un- 


142        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

easy  over  his  father's  absence  and  had  come  in 
search  of  him. 

The  next  day  two  white  men  went  hunting  from 
the  fort,  were  waylaid  and  killed  by  some  stray 
Indians.  Their  companions,  hearing  the  shots, 
found  the  bodies,  and  at  once,  headed  by  their 
precious  captain,  a  man  named  John  Hall,  rushed 
to  the  fort  shouting:  "Kill  the  red  dogs  in  the 
fort!"  The  fort's  other  officers  tried  to  inter- 
vene, but  were  swept  aside.  Cornstalk  and  his 
friends  heard  the  cries,  and  recognized  the  situation. 

"Do  not  fear,  my  son,"  said  Cornstalk  compos- 
edly, "the  Great  Spirit  has  sent  you  here  that  we 
may  die  together." 

He  rose  calmly  as  the  murderers  burst  into  the 
room,  and  the  next  instant  fell  with  seven  bullets 
in  his  breast.  Ellinipsico  "continued  still  and 
passive,  not  even  raising  himself  from  his  seat,"  and 
so  met  death. 

But  this  is  in  advance  of  our  story. 

One  chief  of  them  all  did  not  come  to  take  part 
in  the  treaty  making  on  the  Scioto.  That  was  the 
other  great  chief,  Logan.  When  messengers  were 
sent  to  summon  him,  he  returned  answer  that  he 
was  a  warrior,  not  a  councillor.  But  as  he  would 
not  come.  Lord  Dunmore  sent  to  him  an  emissary, 
one  named  John  Gibson,  a  man  who  had  lived  among 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        143 

the  Indians,  knew  their  language  thoroughly,  and 
who  was  to  a  great  extent  in  their  confidence.  Gib- 
son at  the  time  took  down  literally  what  Logan  said 
to  him,  and  afterwards  stated  that  he  had  added 
nothing.     The  warrior  said: 

"I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say  if  he  ever 
entered  Logan's  cabin  hungry  and  he  gave  him  not 
meat;  if  he  ever  came  cold  and  naked  and  he  clothed 
him  not.^  During  the  course  of  the  last  long  and 
bloody  war,  Logan  remained  idle  in  his  camp,  an 
advocate  of  peace.  Such  was  my  love  for  the  whites 
that  my  countrymen  pointed  as  I  passed  and  said, 
*Logan  is  the  friend  of  the  white  man !'  I  had  even 
thought  to  have  lived  with  you,  but  for  the  injuries  of 
one  man.  Colonel  Cresap  [A  mistake.  Colonel  Cresap 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it],  the  last  spring,  in  cold 
blood  and  unprovoked,  murdered  all  the  relations  of 
Logan,  not  even  sparing  my  women  and  children. 
There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood  in  the  veins  of 
any  living  creature.  This  called  on  me  for  revenge. 
I  have  sought  it.  I  have  killed  many.  I  have  fully 
glutted  my  vengeance.  For  my  country  I  rejoice  at 
the  beams  of  peace;  but  do  not  harbour  the  thought 
that  mine  is  the  joy  of  fear.  Logan  never  felt  fear. 
He  will  not  turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his  life.  Who 
is  there  to  mourn  for  Logan .^^    Not  one!" 

Those  who  were  present  when  John  Gibson  read 


144        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

this  speech  to  the  rough  bordermen  say  that  they 
were  so  greatly  impressed  by  it  that  for  days  they 
talked  it  over  around  their  campfires;  and  con- 
tinually tried  to  say  it  over  to  each  other. 

The  frontiersmen  were  disappointed.  They  had 
hoped  to  be  able  to  carry  the  war  further  into  the 
enemies'  country;  and  they  came  close  to  mutiny 
when  ordered  to  countermarch.  But  the  job  was 
done.  It  was  just  before  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  there  is  no  question  but  that  it  kept  the  tribes 
quiet  through  the  first  two  years  of  that  struggle,  and 
so  permitted  the  white  man  to  get  a  foothold  be- 
yond the  mountains.  If  it  had  not  been  for  this, 
in  all  probability  our  boundaries  would  have  been 
fixed,  when  peace  was  negotiated,  at  the  Alleghany 
Mountains;  and  Great  Britain  would  now  own 
all  our  West  as  she  owns  Canada. 

A  writer  named  Hutchins  gives  an  interesting 
glimpse  of  the  delivery  of  captives  by  the  Indians: 

"The  Indians  delivered  us  their  captives  with  the 
utmost  reluctance,  shed  torrents  of  tears  over  them, 
recommending  them  to  the  care  of  the  commanding 
officer.  They  visited  them  from  day  to  day,  brought 
them  meat,  corn,  skins,  horses,  and  other  matters, 
that  were  bestowed  on  them  while  in  their  families, 
accompanied  with  other  presents  and  all  the  marks  of 
the  most   sincere   and   tender   affection.    Nor   did 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        145 

they  stop  here;  but  when  the  army  marched,  some 
of  the  Indians  sohcited  and  obtained  permission 
to  accompany  their  captives  to  Fort  Pitt,  and  em- 
ployed themselves  in  hunting  and  bringing  provisions 
for  them  on  the  way." 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  claims  of  the  Algonquin  branch  to  the 
lands  south  of  the  Ohio  River  being  thus 
extinguished,  there  remained  only  the  very 
shadowy  claims  of  the  Cherokees  on  the  other  side. 
If  the  Cherokees  could  be  satisfied,  then  there  would 
be  at  least  a  formal  peace  throughout  the  Kentucky 
country;  and  Daniel  Boone  could  revert  to  his  pet 
scheme  of  leading  settlers  into  the  new  land  without 
fear  of  a  concerted  effort  to  wipe  him  out,  and  with 
only  the  usual  and  inevitable  small  parties  of  ma- 
rauders to  cope  with.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he 
would  on  his  own  account  have  organized  another 
expedition  similar  to  the  ill-fated  first  attempt,  but 
this  proved  unnecessary.  At  this  moment  a  soldier 
of  fortune  with  a  grandiose  vision  of  his  own  came  to 
the  front. 

This  was  a  man  named  Henderson.  He  had 
started  life  as  a  constable,  but  had  soon  worked  up 
to  be  a  judge  of  North  Carolina.  Contemporaries 
describe  him  as  of  great  eloquence,  both  in  public 
speaking  and  in  conversation;  of  an  agreeable  and 
expansive   personality;   rather   too   lavish   with   his 

146 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        147 

money.  In  short,  he  was  a  typical  promoter;  and 
in  these  days  would  be  booming  real  estate  near  Los 
Angeles,  or  wild-catting  new  districts  for  oil,  or 
taking  up  far  water  rights  in  inaccessible  mountains 
— and  all  on  a  big  scale.  In  those  days  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  "buying"  Kentucky  from  the  Cherokees, 
offering  the  land  to  settlers  on  good  terms,  and  so 
becoming  the  proprietor  of  a  true  kingdom.  There 
were  any  amount  of  holes  in  the  scheme.  In  the 
first  place,  the  Cherokees  could  be  said  to  own  Ken- 
tucky only  by  a  wide  stretch  of  the  imagination. 
In  the  second  place,  Virginia  had  every  legal  right  to 
consider  it  a  part  of  her  back  country.  In  the  third 
place,  it  was  illegal  because  a  general  law  required 
the  formal  assent  of  governors  and  assemblies  of 
the  different  provinces  to  ratify  the  purchase  of  any 
lands  whatever  from  Indians. 

These  things  worried  Henderson  very  little,  though 
as  a  judge  he  must  have  been  perfectly  aware  of 
them.  He  had  several  pretty  good  antidotes  to  all 
these  facts.  As,  for  instance,  this  was  in  the  year 
1774,  just  before  the  Revolution,  and  the  royal 
governors  were  probably  too  busy  near  home  to 
bother  about  an  expedition  into  the  remote  wilder- 
ness: the  settlers  knew  nothing  about  the  legal  as- 
pects of  the  matter,  but  any  one  could  safely  bet  they 
would   not   peacefully   give   up  their  land   on   any 


148        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

account  once  they  had  made  their  homes  on  it.  At 
any  rate,  Judge  Henderson's  glowing  optimism 
found  seven  others  like  himself  with  some  capital, 
and  the  eight  of  them  set  eagerly  about  the  busi- 
ness. 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  deal  with  the  Chero- 
kees;  and  the  man  selected  for  that  job  was  Daniel 
Boone.  Some  maintain  that  Boone  and  Henderson 
had  worked  together  on  this  scheme  from  the  start; 
and  that  all  of  Boone's  solitary  adventuring  had 
really  been  on  behalf  of  this  very  scheme;  but  it 
seems  much  more  likely  that  the  reports  the  Hunter 
brought  back  suggested  the  idea  to  Henderson's 
quick  imagination.  It  was  natural  that  the  men 
should  get  together,  for  their  desires  were  now  the 
same. 

Boone  and  Henderson  at  once  visited  the  Cherokee 
towns,  making  their  proposals.  The  Indians  dele- 
gated one  of  their  chiefs  to  return  with  the  white  men 
to  examine  the  goods  they  offered  as  a  purchase 
price.  These  consisted  of  about  fifty  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  arms,  clothing,  trinkets,  and  rum, 
which  Henderson  had  collected  in  one  spot,  and 
which  no  doubt  made  an  imposing  show  when 
heaped  up  in  one  or  two  cabins.  At  any  rate,  the 
delegate  reported  favourably,  so  Oconostota,  the 
greatest  of  the  Cherokee  chiefs,  issued  a  call  to  his 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        149 

tribesmen  to  assemble  for  the  treaty.  They  gathered 
at  a  place  called  Sycamore  Shoals,  some  twelve 
hundred  strong;  and  after  considerable  dickering 
and  speech  making  the  Treaty  of  Sycamore  Shoals 
was  signed  by  which  was  made  over  all  the  land  be- 
tween the  Kentucky  and  the  Cumberland  rivers. 
There  was  considerable  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians:  and  the  signing  was  accompanied  by  warn- 
ings that  the  chiefs  would  not  pretend  to  be  guaran- 
tee against  irresponsible  acts  by  the  younger 
warriors. 

"Brother,"  said  old  Oconostota  to  Boone,  "the 
land  beyond  the  mountains  is  a  dark  ground,  a 
bloody  ground." 

"Brother,"  said  another  chief,  called  Dragging 
Canoe,  "there  is  a  black  cloud  hanging  over  that 
land.  We  have  given  you  a  fine  land,  but  I  believe 
you  will  have  much  trouble  in  settling  it." 

Indeed  there  was  dissatisfaction  almost  im- 
mediately; for  though  the  goods  looked  imposing  in 
one  pile,  when  divided  each  individual's  share  was 
very  small.  One  warrior  came  forward  exhibiting 
as  his  share  of  the  whole  transaction  one  shirt! 

"In  a  single  day  on  this  land  we  have  sold,"  he 
complained,  "I  could  kill  enough  deer  to  buy  me  a 
shirt  like  this!" 

Nevertheless,  the  treaty  seems  to  have  been  fairly 


150        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

come  at.  The  Cherokees  knew  perfectly  that  they 
had  no  real  title  to  the  country;  they  knew  that  this 
"sale"  would  not  prevent  their  hunting  there  as 
long  as  the  game  lasted.  It  is  recorded  that,  un- 
like most  of  this  bargaining,  no  liquor  was  permitted 
until  the  discussions  were  over. 

Nor  did  Henderson  care  much  about  the  validity 
of  the  title.  All  he  wanted  w^as  some  sort  of  a  paper 
to  go  on.  Immediately  he  sent  Boone  to  cut  a  route 
through  to  the  new  possessions. 

The  Scout  picked  thirty  of  the  best  backwoods- 
men to  be  had,  and  with  them  at  once  attacked  the 
construction  of  the  famous  Wilderness  Road  which 
for  many  years  thereafter  was  to  swarm  with  the 
emigration  to  the  West.  It  was  at  first,  as  these  men 
made  it,  merely  a  trail,  fit  only  for  packhorses;  but 
its  grades,  the  selection  of  its  route  through  the 
passes  and  over  the  rough  country  is  a  testimony 
to  Boone's  practical  eye  and  engineering  knowledge. 
With  great  skill  he  took  advantage  of  buffalo  roads, 
Indian  traces,  his  own  hunter's  trail,  and  the  W'ar- 
rior  Path  of  the  Indians,  connecting  them  up,  cutting 
through  the  forests  and  dense  canebrakes,  blazing 
mile  trees  for  distance.  The  job  took  them  about 
ten  weeks,  which  was  very  fast  work,  to  reach  the 
banks  of  the  Kentucky  River,  where  they  thought 
their  main  troubles  were  over.     But  the  Indians  had 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        151 

been  watching  this  invasion  with  growing  un- 
easiness. The  defeat  at  the  Kanawha  and  the  Treaty 
of  Sycamore  Shoals  prevented  them  from  any  for- 
mal declaration  of  open  war;  but  small  bands  were 
afoot,  and  before  daybreak  one  of  these  attacked 
Boone's  party.  They  managed  to  kill  a  negro 
servant  and  wounded  two  men,  but  were  then  driven 
off  by  the  axemen. 

There  was  no  further  trouble  for  the  moment. 
Boone's  party  pushed  on  to  the  place  he  had  long 
since  picked  out  as  a  site;  and  there  started  to  put 
up  cabins,  and  commenced  a  stockade.  As  they 
drew  near  the  ground  Boone  had  selected  a  great 
herd  of  buffalo  made  off,  a  wonderful  sight,  with  the 
grown  beasts  compactly  in  the  centre  and  the  young 
calves  playing  and  gambolling  about  on  the  flanks. 
Soon  after  Boone's  party  came  other  small  bands 
of  adventurers  spying  out  the  land,  selecting  home- 
sites,  and  also  beginning  to  put  up  stockades.  The 
immigration  had  begun,  although  the  first-comers 
were  all  merely  forerunners,  without  their  families 
or  household  goods.  They  were  all  equally  de- 
lighted with  the  country,  amazed  at  the  swarms  of 
game. 

But  now  the  hovering  bands  of  Indians  began  to 
strike.  The  white  men  were  so  eager  to  go  hunting; 
to  find  themselves  plots  of  land;  to  do  this,  that,  and 


152        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  other,  as  you  or  I  would  be  in  like  circumstances, 
that  they  were  apt  to  skimp  such  hard  drudgery  as 
cutting  logs  and  putting  up  stockades.  More  white 
men  could  be  expected  soon,  and  if  these  first-comers 
wanted  the  pick  of  the  land  they  must  get  very  busy ! 
And  what  live  man  could  resist  the  lure  of  the  buffalo, 
the  deer,  the  elk,  the  turkeys  and  clouds  of  wild 
pigeons!  As  a  result  the  defensive  works  were 
neglected.  Even  at  Boonesborough,  as  the  new 
post  was  named,  Boone  could  not  induce  his  men  to 
complete  the  simple  stockade.  So  when  the  small 
Indian  war  parties  finally  swooped  they  got  results, 
and  several  men  were,  as  Boone  spelled  it,  "killed 
and  sculped." 

This  brought  about  a  panic  among  a  great  many 
of  the  newcomers.  They  had  come  into  the  country 
on  the  understanding  that  the  Indians  had  made 
peace,  and  being  "sculped"  did  not  look  very  peace- 
ful to  them!  A  great  many  became  panic-stricken 
and  started  back  for  Kentucky,  for  they  had  less 
than  no  relish  to  be  caught  in  an  Indian  war.  They 
had  seen  such  things  at  first  hand. 

Boone  himself  was  undaunted.  He  sent  a  letter 
to  Henderson  stating  in  unexcited  terms  the  "sculp- 
ing," that  the  "people  were  very  uneasy,"  and  ad- 
vising him  that  it  would  be  a  very  good  idea  if  he 
would  hurry  up  in  support.     Boone  had  no  infor- 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        153 

mation  as  to  whether  Judge  Henderson  had,  yet 
started  on  his  way;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that 
vigorous  and  energetic  gentleman,  three  days  after 
the  signing  of  the  treaty,  had  left  Wantaga  with  a 
party  that  included  forty  mounted  riflemen,  a  body 
of  negro  slaves,  forty  packhorses,  a  drove  of  cattle, 
and  a  train  of  wagons  with  provisions,  ammunition, 
seeds,  farming  implements — in  short,  all  the  necessi- 
ties for  a  permanent  settlement.  He  had  even 
brought  the  materials  for  making  gunpowder.  The 
eight  adventurers  who  were  backing  the  scheme  cer- 
tainly had  confidence  enough  to  sink  considerable 
money  in  it!  Indeed,  five  of  them  in  all  accom- 
panied the  expedition. 

At  Powell's  Valley,  just  below  Cumberland  Gap, 
they  had  to  abandon  the  wagons,  as  was  to  have  been 
expected,  and  to  go  forward  with  only  the  pack  ani- 
mals. In  anticipation  of  this,  probably,  a  post  had 
already  been  established  at  Powell's  Valley  under 
Joseph  Martin,  in  whose  charge,  for  the  time  being, 
were  left  the  heavy  materials  and  the  wagons. 

Boone's  messenger  with  his  letter  met  them  when 
they  were  fairly  in  Cumberland  Gap.  The  party  had 
been  enjoying  the  usual  difficulties  of  travel  with 
numbers  of  packhorses  in  new  and  difficult  country. 
It  rained  a  great  deal,  and  at  times  they  encountered 
heavy  snowstorms  so  thick  that  one  of  the  men  got 


154        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

lost.  The  trail  was  very  steep.  Much  chopping 
away  of  down  timber  had  to  be  done.  The  packs 
were  always  shifting  or  slipping,  with  the  accom- 
panying row  and  trouble  and  confusion.  There  were 
many  streams,  most  of  them  in  flood.  One  day 
they  had  to  cross  fifty  times  "by  very  bad  foards," 
into  deep  water,  with  steep  rotten  banks  down  which 
the  horses  must  be  forced  to  plunge,  and  bad  bottom 
that  mired  and  threw  them  and  all  but  drowned 
them.  Sometimes  the  packs  had  to  be  ferried  across 
on  rafts  and  the  horses  swum.  A  packed  animal 
in  thick  timber  is  always  getting  stuck  between  trees, 
turning  his  saddle  and  twisting  his  load.  In  these 
forests  it  was  a  rare  thing  to  find  good  grazing  handy, 
and  yet  the  beasts  must  be  kept  fed  and  strong. 
Such  an  outfit,  by  its  very  nature,  is  vulnerable  to 
attack,  especially  in  a  wooded  mountain  country 
that  forces  it  to  one  definite  route.  Scouts  had  to 
range  far  afield.  Were  it  not  for  the  confidence  that 
at  last  a  real  peace  had  been  arranged  with  both  the 
northern  and  southern  tribes,  you  can  readily  see 
that  such  a  journey  would  be  filled  with  a  deadly 
anxiety. 

Nor  were  their  day's  troubles  over  with  the  making 
of  camp.  In  spite  of  the  peace  it  was  realized  that 
precautions  must  be  taken  against  small  bands  of 
marauders,   so  a  nightly  watch  must  be  kept;  no 


And  so  in  thin  pathless,  blinded  forest ....  the  Indians  movedy 
invisible,  silent  ....  awaiting  the  moment  to  strike 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        155 

light   matter   for   wearied   men.     And   then   in   the 
morning  the  packing  must  be  done. 

As  everyone  knows  who  has  had  anything  to  do 
with  this  sort  of  wilderness  travel,  one  of  the  most 
annoying  of  the  petty  troubles  is  the  straying  of 
horses.  The  animals  must  eat,  after  their  heavy 
day's  labour;  and  so  they  must  be  turned  loose  to  feed 
on  the  natural  pasturage.  For  a  time,  until  the 
first  of  their  hunger  is  appeased,  they  stay  in  a 
compact  band  near  home;  but  after  a  while  they 
begin  to  wander  in  search  of  choice  bits.  By  morn- 
ing they  may  be  scattered  over  quite  an  extent  of 
territory.  This  is  not  so  bad  for  one  who  under- 
stands the  habits  of  the  beasts  and  can  follow  a 
spoor;  but  every  once  in  a  while  a  single  horse  will  be 
seized  with  a  travelling  fit  and  will  start  straight  out 
for  somewhere  indefinite.  He  doesn't  know  him- 
self where  he  is  going;  but  he  is  on  his  way.  Some- 
times he  takes  a  little  band  of  the  others  with  him. 
He  never  travels  faster  than  a  slow,  steady  walk;  but 
that  gait  can  cover  an  aggravating  distance  if  con- 
tinuous. When  overtaken  he  stands  still  and  looks 
at  you  with  a  mild  surprise. 

There  is  no  way  by  which  the  delays  caused  by  a 
search  for  strayed  stock  can  be  avoided  when  the 
journey  is  long.  If  you  picket  them  anywhere  but  on 
a  flat  open  plain  they  will  soon  tangle  themselves  up 


156        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

or  shorten  their  ropes  so  they  have  only  a  small 
circle  in  which  to  find  grass.  Hobbhng  may  help 
in  catching  the  horse;  but  a  wise  animal  soon  learns 
to  travel  nearly  as  well  with  hobbles  as  when  free. 
If  the  animals  are  to  be  kept  strong  and  fit  for  a  long 
journey,  they  cannot  be  corralled  at  night,  for  grass 
is  not  as  sustaining  as  grain  and  they  must  have 
every  opportunity  to  fill  up.  So  the  wilderness 
traveller  learns  to  read  tracks,  and  makes  up  his 
mind  that  every  once  in  a  while  he  will  be  delayed 
in  his  day's  journey. 

A  man  named  WilHam  Colk,  who  kept  a  most  amus- 
ing diary  of  this  trip,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  some  of 
this  horse  misfortune  that  might  have  been  written 
of  any  trip  to-day  into  the  Rockies  or  Sierras: 

'*I  turned  my  horse  to  drive  before  me  and  he  got 
scard  ran  away  threw  Down  the  Saddel  Bags  and 
broke  three  of  our  powder  goards  and  Abram's  beast 
Burst  open  a  walet  of  corn  and  lost  a  good  Deal  and 
made  a  turrabel  flustration  amongst  the  Reast  of 
the  Horses  Drake's  mair  run  against  a  sapling  and 
noct  it  down  we  cacht  them  all  again  and  went  on." 

And  at  this  time  of  the  year  the  plot  was  com- 
plicated by  the  abundance  of  yellow- jackets'  nests. 
When  a  horse  stumbled  against  one  of  these  and 
turned  loose  its  vicious  swarms  there  was  always  a 
grand  stampede  of  man  and  beast. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        157 

Boone's  message  was  a  facer.  It  shows  how 
seriously  these  people  took  even  the  bare  chance  of 
an  Indian  war  when  I  tell  you  that  that  very  night 
several  men  started  on  the  back  track.  The  next 
day  the  expedition  encountered  the  first  of  numerous 
bands  of  refugees  fleeing  to  the  comparative  safety 
of  the  settlements.  They  were  frightened  to  death, 
saw  Indians  behind  every  tree  and  devils  in  every 
shadow,  and  you  can  imagine  each  had  a  story 
wilder  than  the  last.  They  talked  massacre,  raid, 
and  burning,  and  predicted  that  in  a  fortnight  there 
would  not  remain  a  white  man  in  Kentucky.  Hen- 
derson had  the  greatest  diflSculty  in  holding  his  own 
party  together  in  the  face  of  these  alarms;  and  real- 
ized that  it  would  be  vitally  necessary  to  get  word  to 
Boone  at  once  that  the  slow-moving  pack  trains  were 
on  the  way.  A  young  man  named  Cocke  gallantly 
volunteered  to  carry  the  message,  and  actually  did 
so  in  the  face  of  real  and  imagined  dangers. 

But  our  sturdy  Hunter  had  no  notion  of  being 
frightened  out  of  the  country,  and  his  influence  and 
reputation  held  with  him  most  of  the  original  party. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that,  had  it  not  been  for  him, 
Kentucky  would  have  been  deserted  by  the  white  man; 
and  so,  together  with  all  our  West,  have  been  adjudged 
British  in  the  settlement  after  the  Revolution. 

Henderson  and  his  party  reached  the  new  settle- 


158        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

ment  on  the  Judge's  birthday,  and  were  welcomed 
by  the  firing  of  rifles  and  loud  shouts.  There  were 
now  eighty  people  in  the  settlement;  the  Indian 
panic  had  been  shown  by  the  scouts  to  be  based  on 
the  chance  raids  of  a  few  small  parties;  Cornstalk, 
chivalrous  as  always,  came  out  in  strong  denuncia- 
tion of  these  outrages  and  vehemently  ordered  all 
warriors  to  keep  away  from  the  white  man's  country. 
The  work  of  the  new  settlement  was  systematized. 
Hunters  were  deputed  from  the  sixty-five  riflemen 
to  supply  game.  This  was  no  light  matter,  for 
already,  owing  to  skin  hunting  and  the  movement 
away  from  the  fort  of  the  game  herds,  the  hunters 
had  to  range  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  away  in  order 
to  encounter  wild  animals  in  the  desired  numbers. 
Of  course  there  was  what  we  would  call  abundance 
nearer  home;  but  these  men  wanted  meat  quickly 
and  in  quantity.  Other  members  of  the  community 
planted  corn,  working  in  common,  appearing  every 
morning  at  a  blast  of  a  horn  and  alternately  labouring 
in  the  fields  or  standing  guard  as  the  "captain" 
directed.  Still  others,  under  Boone  himself,  chopped 
out  a  clearing:  felling  trees,  shaping  and  notching 
logs,  splitting  clapboards  and  "shakes,"  hewing 
puncheons,  in  preparation  for  the  building  of  a  real 
fort  and  stockade,  and  comfortable  cabins  for  those 
who  were  to  follow. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        159 

This  fort  was  typical  of  the  times.  It  stood  on  a 
slight  elevation,  not  far  from  the  river  banks,  and 
consisted  of  an  enclosure  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long  by  a  hundred  and  seventy -five  feet  wide. 
The  cabins,  of  which  there  were  about  thirty,  were 
built  so  that  the  backs  of  them  formed  part  of  the 
walls  of  this  enclosure.  They  were  of  course  pierced 
with  loopholes,  and  their  roofs  pitched  only  one 
way,  away  from  the  back  walls,  so  that  a  man  could 
lie  on  the  slope  and  shoot  over  the  edge,  and  also 
so  that  firebrands  hurled  on  top  could  be  put  out 
without  exposure.  The  spaces  between  the  cabins 
were  filled  with  the  stockade  walls.  To  make  the 
stockade,  a  deep  trench  must  be  dug;  logs  placed 
upright  in  the  trench;  the  trench  filled  in  and  tamped 
down;  and  the  cracks  in  the  logs  filled  up  to  be 
bullet  proof.  At  each  corner  were  two-story  block 
houses  with  the  upper  stories  projecting.  Wide 
gates  were  located  opposite  one  another. 

Now  all  this  was,  as  you  can  readily  imagine,  a 
tremendous  labour.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  Indian 
trouble,  at  least  on  any  great  scale,  seemed  to  be 
settled  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  other  construc- 
tive necessary  work  was  crying  to  be  done,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  in  spite  of  Boone's  best  efforts  the 
work  dragged. 

In  May,  the  "fields"  being  planted,  these  back- 


160        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

woodsmen  met  under  a  great  tree  and  formally  or- 
ganized themselves,  adopting  a  constitution,  pass- 
ing laws,  holding  elections,  all  in  due  order.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  Daniel  Boone  had  much  to  do 
with  laws  as  to  game  protection  and  improving  the 
breed  of  horses.  Within  a  week  the  little  settlement 
was  thrown  into  great  excitement  by  receiving  news 
of  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  The  backwoodsmen 
were  all  patriots  and  enthusiastically  pledged  their 
support  to  the  new  cause;  but  at  present  there  did 
not  seem  to  be  much  they  could  do  about  it.  In 
fact,  just  at  this  time,  they  were  having  all  they 
could  do  to  maintain  themselves.  The  newly  planted 
crops  were  still  in  the  future;  the  provisions  that 
had  been  brought  were  rapidly  giving  out;  there 
was  almost  no  salt;  game  was  withdrawing  from  the 
immediate  vicinity.  There  was  no  bread,  so  they 
pretended  that  the  white  meat  of  turkeys  was  bread. 
"Even  big  meat  was  none  too  easy  to  get,"  Mr. 
Ranck  tells  us,  "but  Judge  Henderson's  black  Dan 
managed  to  keep  a  supply,  and  with  some  vegetables 
from  the  fort  garden,  *cats'  (catfish)  from  the  river, 
and  milk,"  they  managed  to  get  along. 

The  news  of  Lexington  was  valuable  in  one  way: 
for  both  Boone  and  Henderson  used  a  report  that 
Lord  Dunmore  was  trying  to  stir  up  the  Indians  to 
take  sides  with  the  British,  to  get  the  fort  com- 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        161 

pleted.  All  the  cabins  in  the  fort  proper,  however, 
were  not  continuously  occupied.  Some  of  the  set- 
tlers preferred  to  live  on  their  farms  near  by;  but 
they  all  came  in  promptly  enough  at  any  alarm. 

About  a  month  later  Boone,  satisfied  that  at  last 
the  place  was  strongly  enough  fortified  to  justify 
trusting  his  family  to  it,  set  out  to  get  them.  His 
old  friend  Richard  Callaway  went  with  him,  to  do 
likewise;  and  also  a  party  of  men  who  were  to  bring 
back  salt  from  the  supplies  in  Powell  Valley,  where 
Henderson  had  left  his  wagons.  Salt  was  by  now 
very  badly  needed,  not  only  for  eating,  but  because 
of  the  impossibility  of  preserving  wild  meat  in  the 
warm  weather  without  it.  The  men  found  the  salt 
all  right,  but  so  distrustful  were  they  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  so  confident  were  they  of  Boone,  that  they 
squatted  down  in  the  Powell  Valley  to  await  his  re- 
turn with  his  family,  and  nothing  would  induce  them 
to  budge.  Judge  Henderson  wrote  in  a  letter: 
"Our  salt  is  exhausted,  and  the  men  who  went  with 
Colonel  Boone  for  that  article  have  not  returned, 
and  until  he  comes  the  devil  could  not  drive  the 
others  this  way."  Indeed  this  confidence  was  shared 
by  many  others,  for  when  Boone  started  back 
with  his  people,  his  horses,  his  cattle,  and  his  dogs, 
his  provisions  and  household  goods,  he  found  him- 
self  joined   by   quite  a   number   of   other   families 


162        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

bound  not  only  for  Boonesborough  but  for  Harrod's 
new  station,  and  two  other  small  forts.  Even  after 
these  had  left  him  at  "the  hazel  patch"  in  Kentucky 
he  was  still  at  the  head  of  twenty-seven  rifles.  The 
older  boys  drove  the  cattle,  which  were  usually  in 
the  lead  to  set  the  pace;  the  little  children  were 
packed  in  baskets  made  of  hickory  withes  slung  on 
gentle  horses,  or  else  packed  between  rolls  of  bedding. 
The  scouts  ranged  the  forest  far  and  wide. 

His  return  with  these  additions  to  the  population 
— and  the  salt — was  received  with  great  rejoicings 
by  the  men  left  at  Boonesborough.  The  infant 
settlement  had  lost  heavily  even  of  its  first  popu- 
lation. A  good  proportion  of  those  who  had  first 
come  out  were  merely  adventurers  for  excitement, 
good  hunting,  and  to  satisfy  their  curiosity.  When 
they  had  satisfied  all  these  desires,  they  drifted  back 
home  or  farther  afield.  Others  had  come  out  merely 
to  file  on  claims  of  land,  after  which  they  returned  to 
look  after  their  genuine  farms  back  home,  intending 
to  move  to  Kentucky  later  for  permanent  settlement. 
And  of  course  there  were  the  timid  who  were  scared 
by  the  Indian  rumours.  At  one  time  Boonesborough 
was  actually  down  to  twelve  rifles!  though  the 
numbers  fluctuated  widely. 

Boone's  party  arrived  in  early  September.  His 
wife  and  daughter,  Jemima,  were  the  first  women 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout         163 

to  set  foot  on  the  banks  of  the  Kentucky  River. 
It  is  amusing  to  read  of  the  immediate  effect  of  the 
presence  of  the  gentler  sex  on  the  bordermen.  "The 
men,  and  especially  the  younger  ones,  immediately 
improved  in  appearance,  for  there  was  a  sudden 
craze  for  shaving  and  haircutting,"  says  Ranck, 
"An  ash  hopper,  soap  kettle,  and  clothes  line  were 
set  up.  Hickory  brooms  and  home-made  wash- 
boards multiplied.  The  sound  of  the  spinning  wheel 
was  heard  in  the  land,  and  an  occasional  sight  could 
be  had  of  a  little  looking  glass,  a  patchwork  quilt, 
knitting  needles,  or  a  turkey-tail  fan."  And  we  can 
imagine  the  rapture  of  the  youngest  Boone  children 
at  the  sights  to  be  seen  and  the  things  to  be  done. 
Nevertheless,  we  can  also  imagine  that  Mrs.  Boone 
and  Miss  Jemima  were  glad,  some  weeks  later,  to  see 
Richard  Callaway  come  in  at  the  head  of  a  party 
that  included  three  married  women  and  quite  a  bevy 
of  young  ladies.  The  fort  began  to  look  like  a  real 
settlement,  with  its  houses,  its  women  and  children, 
its  domestic  animals  and  its  planted  crops.  Boone's 
dream  had  at  last  come  true. 

It  is  related  that  with  Callaway  came  a  man 
named  Pogue  who  was  "an  ingenious  contriver." 
Nowadays  he  would  probably  advertise  as  a  Handy 
Man.  These  pioneers  could  do  the  big  things  w^ell, 
but  were  not  so  deft  when  it  came  to  making  or 


164        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

mending  spinning  wheels,  churns,  washtubs,  piggins, 
and  noggins.  A  piggin  is  a  pail  of  which  two  of  the 
staves  are  longer  than  the  others,  and  a  cross  piece  is 
fastened  to  them  by  way  of  a  handle.  A  noggin  is 
a  smaller  vessel,  also  w^ith  staves  like  a  pail,  one  of 
which  is  left  long,  somewhat  like  a  dipper  wdth  a 
perpendicular  handle. 

The  crops  had  come  in.     The  women  took  up  their 
regular  occupations,  the  dairies,  the  cooking,  spin- 
ning, weaving,  washing,  carrying  the  water;  the  men 
assumed  their    routine    jobs  of    building,    clearing, 
hunting,  planting,  cultivating,  and  the  defense.     In 
making  the  clearings  the  trees  must  first  be  girdled, 
to  deaden  them;  then  felled,  and  cut  into  logs  that 
could  be  handled;  then  "rolled"  out  of  the  way. 
The   stumps   were   generally   left;   and   they   made 
wonderful  individual  breastworks,  both  for  friend 
and    foe,    in    wartimes.     Everything    seemed    pros- 
perous.    Men  continued  to  come  in,  some  of  them 
already  famous,  or  destined  to  be  so,  such  as  Simon 
Kenton,  the  scout;  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  hero- 
to-be  of  Vincennes;  Benjamin  Logan,   the  Indian 
fighter,  and  many  others.     The  Indians  were   ap- 
parently resolved  to  fulfil  the  terms  of  the  peace 
treaty.     Two  hundred  and  thirty  acres  of  corn  had 
been  raised;  the  domestic  animals  were  doing  well; 
fruit  orchards  had  been  planted;  laws  made;  there 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        165 

were  twelve  women  in  the  country  and  close  to  two 
hundred  men. 

Then  just  two  days  before  Christmas  this  peace- 
ful content  was  rudely  shattered.  Two  beys, 
named  McQuinney  and  Saunders,  crossed  the  river, 
and  climbed  the  hills  opposite  the  fort.  They  were 
just  out  for  fun,  and  never  dreamed  of  taking  their 
rifles  with  them.  The  settlers  had  been  so  long 
undisturbed  that  only  the  old-timers  went  always 
armed.  The  boys  had  the  bad  luck  to  run  across  a 
little  roving  band  of  Shawnees.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  savages  considered  themselves  on  the 
warpath;  but  the  temptation  of  such  easy  prey  was 
too  much  for  them.  Four  days  later,  after  much 
anxious  search,  the  body  of  McQuinney  was  found 
in  a  cornfield  about  three  miles  away.  Saunders 
was  never  heard  of  again. 

The  settlement  was  thrown  into  great  grief  and 
alarm.  No  man  could  tell  what  this  portended. 
Scouting  parties  took  the  woods;  the  families  moved 
in;  men  went  armed;  the  old,  comfortable,  easy  hfe 
vanished.  Only  some  time  later  was  it  known  that 
the  Indians  numbered  only  a  half  dozen;  that  Corn- 
stalk himself  had  gone  to  Fort  Pitt  to  denounce 
them  and  disclaim  responsibihty;  and  that  a  general 
Indian  war  was  not  to  be  feared. 


CHAPTER  XII 

NEARLY  seven  months  went  by  peacefully  as 
far  as  Indians  were  concerned.  Then  on  a 
still,  hot  midsummer  Sunday  afternoon, 
following  the  customary  Bible  reading  that  re- 
placed church,  Jemima  Boone  and  her  friends, 
Elizabeth  and  Frances  Callaway,  took  one  of  the 
elm-  or  birch-bark  canoes  and  started  out  down  the 
river.  They  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when 
their  craft  struck  a  little  sandbar  running  out  from  a 
point.  This  was  no  unusual  occurrence,  especially 
at  such  times  of  low  water;  and  the  three  girls 
laughingly  argued  as  to  which  should  step  off  into 
the  shallow  water  to  shove  the  light  craft  adrift.  At 
this  instant  five  Indians  darted  from  the  thick  cane- 
brake  at  the  water's  edge  and  seized  them. 

So  sudden  and  unexpected  was  this  appearance 
that  the  girls  were  dragged  from  the  canoe  and  into 
the  thick  cover  before  they  had  gathered  their 
scattered  wits:  and  once  there  the  threat  of  the 
tomahawk  was  enough  to  keep  them  silent.  It  is 
related  that  *'Miss  Betsy,"  the  oldest,  managed  to 

166 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        167 

smack  one  of  the  Indians  on  the  head  with  her  paddle 
before  it  was  snatched  from  her  hands. 

The  Indians  rushed  their  captives  at  full  speed  up 
a  thickly  wooded  ravine  to  the  top  of  the  high- 
forested  hills  that  roughly  parallel  the  river.  There 
they  took  a  more  leisurely  gait  and  struck  out  across 
country  with  the  intention  of  hitting  the  "Warrior's 
Trace  "  that  led  to  the  Ohio  River. 

The  girls'  absence  caused  no  uneasiness  until 
milking  time;  which  fact  afforded  the  savages  sev- 
eral hours'  start.  Then  the  alarm  was  sounded  by 
one  of  the  hunters  who  had  paddled  down  river  to 
meet  them.  The  abandoned  canoe  and  the  plain 
trail  to  be  read  near  the  banks  of  the  river  clearly 
enough  told  the  story.  Immediately  the  fort  was  in 
a  turmoil.  Men  were  summoned;  and  shortly  two 
parties  set  out — about  twenty  men  in  all — one, 
mounted,  under  the  command  of  Callaway;  the  other, 
afoot,  under  Boone.  Callaway  with  his  horsemen 
pushed  off  to  a  crossing  of  the  Licking  River  in  hopes 
of  intercepting  the  fugitives,  if — as  seemed  probable 
— they  should  cross  there.  Boone  and  eight  men, 
three  of  whom  were  lovers  of  the  girls,  were  to  follow 
the  trail. 

It  was  now  so  late  that  little  could  be  done  that 
night,  except  follow  the  plain  tracks  to  the  point 
where  the  Indians  began  to  cover  them.    Even  these 


168        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

expert  woodsmen  could  not  pursue  in  the  dark  for- 
ests after  night  had  fallen.  But  next  morning  by 
daylight  they  were  on  the  scent  and  for  thirty  miles 
they  puzzled  out  a  trail  blinded  by  every  savage 
ingenuity.  It  is  a  striking  example  of  the  wood- 
craft of  these  men;  for  they  not  only  followed  the 
trail,  but  they  must  have  followed  it  at  high  speed 
to  have  travelled  faster  than  the  Indians  in  flight. 
They  were  considerably  helped  by  the  ingenuity  of 
the  girls,  who  tore  off  bits  of  their  clothing  and  left 
them  on  bushes  whenever  they  could  do  so  without 
discovery  by  the  Indians'  sharp  eyes;  broke  twigs; 
or  dragged  their  feet.  To  do  this  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  men  as  keen  as  Indian  warriors  was  a  tri- 
umph in  itself.  Boone  now  decided  that  the  Indians 
would  be  travelling  less  cautiously,  so  he  boldly 
struck  across  country  in  what  he  considered  the 
probable  direction  of  flight,  thus  gaining  some 
miles,  if  his  reasoning  was  correct.  It  proved  to  be 
so.  The  tracks  were  discovered  in  a  buffalo  path; 
and  there  was  now  no  attempt  at  covering  the  trail. 

Much  encouraged  they  pushed  on  more  rapidly. 
Ten  miles  farther  on  they  caught  sight  of  the  In- 
dians making  camp. 

This  was  a  welcome  sight;  but  the  next  procedure 
had  to  be  carried  out  with  the  greatest  caution.  No 
one  knew  better  than  Boone  that  the  Indians'  first 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        169 

act,  in  event  of  a  surprise,  would  be  to  attempt  to 
murder  the  captives.  The  girls,  "tattered,  torn,  and 
despairing'*  were  huddled  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  only 
a  few  feet  from  the  fire.  Boone  selected  three  of 
the  most  skilled  of  his  men;  and  the  four  crept 
inch  by  inch  nearer  the  fire.  They  were  advancing 
against  the  sharpest,  the  most  highly  trained  senses 
in  the  world,  and  every  man  there  knew  that  a 
single  false  move,  a  solitary  broken  twig,  even  the 
rustle  of  a  leaf  would  the  next  instant  be  followed 
by  the  crash  of  tomahawks  on  the  poor  girls'  de- 
fenseless skulls.  They  held  their  breath  in  an 
agony  of  suspense.  The  advance  seemed  to  consume 
hours.  Finally,  at  the  signal,  the  four  men  fired,  and 
the  others  rushed  forward  with  yells.  Two  of  the 
Indians  were  killed  and  the  other  three  were  so  com- 
pletely surprised  that,  as  one  of  the  participants 
writes:  "We  sent  them  off  without  their  moccasins, 
and  not  one  of  them  with  so  much  as  a  knife  or  a 
tomahawk." 

When  the  rescuers  returned  in  triumph  to  Boones- 
borough,  they  found  that  another  band  of  warriors 
had  during  their  absence  burned  an  outlying  cabin 
belonging  to  Nathaniel  Hart,  and  ruined  his  young 
apple  trees.  Hart  was  with  the  rescuing  expedition. 
The  scouts  and  hunters  began  to  bring  in  news  of 
other  small  parties  of  Indians  outlying  around  all 


170        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  other  settlements.  They  were  nowhere  in  any 
large  numbers,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  small 
forces  were  everywhere.  It  became  evident  that 
the  old  period  of  security  was  over.  The  outlying 
settlers  moved  into  the  stockade,  only  venturing 
forth,  armed,  to  tend  their  crops  and  their  animals. 
Everywhere  in  the  forest  the  Indians  prowled 
singly  or  in  small  parties,  watching  for  white  men  to 
shoot  as  one  would  watch  for  deer.  They  avoided 
contest  as  much  as  they  could,  lurking  behind  stump, 
rock,  or  tree  until  a  sure  and  unexpected  shot  could 
be  had.  All  night  a  solitary  savage  would  lie  behind 
some  ambush  to  take  a  shot  at  the  first  man  to  emerge 
from  the  fort  in  the  morning,  and  then  with  a  wild 
yell,  whatever  the  result,  would  disappear  into  the 
forest.  Everywhere  the  settler  found  his  cattle  and 
horses  driven  off  and  his  sheep  and  hogs  shot  down 
with  arrows,  for  although  the  Indians  were  by  now 
well  armed  with  rifles,  they  carried  bows  and  arrows 
for  this  purpose  in  order  to  save  precious  ammuni- 
tion. 

Of  course,  the  usual  precipitate  emigration  of  the 
more  timid  at  once  began.  Three  hundred  were 
said  to  have  returned  across  the  mountains;  and 
the  entire  military  force  of  Kentucky  was  reduced 
to  about  a  hundred.  There  were  only  twenty-two 
armed  men  left  in  Boonesborough. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        171 

Nevertheless,  all  was  not  dark  and  gloomy.  Three 
weeks  after  the  rescue  just  described  Squire  Boone, 
in  his  capacity  of  Baptist  Elder,  was  called  upon  to 
officiate  at  the  marriage  of  Samuel  Henderson  and 
Betsy  Callaway.  This  was  the  first  wedding  in 
Kentucky.  Incidentally,  within  the  year  Frances 
Callaway  and  Jemima  Boone  married  John  Holder 
and  Flanders  Callaway,  two  of  the  young  men  who 
had  helped  rescue  them.  At  the  wedding  of  "Miss 
Betsy"  there  was  "dancing  to  fiddle  music  by  the 
light  of  tallow  dips,  and  a  treat  of  home-grown'water- 
melons  of  which  the  whole  station  was  proud." 

For  some  time  thus  the  fires  of  warfare  smouldered 
on  the  frontier.  British  agents  were  everywhere 
inciting  the  Shawnees  and  Cherokees.  The  em- 
ployment of  savages  and  the  adoption  of  a  species 
of  warfare  that  could  not  fail  to  be  horrible  was  a 
blot  on  the  British  name  and  is  the  chief  reason  why 
the  natural  antagonism  of  the  Revolution  was  deep- 
ened to  a  hatred  that  has  lasted  beyond  its  normal 
span. 

In  the  meantime,  the  proprietory  government  of 
Judge  Henderson  came  to  an  end.  It  was  in  direct 
conflict  with  the  rights  of  the  older  colonies;  illegal; 
and  in  the  end  irksome.  Had  Henderson  been  con- 
tent to  sell  his  land  outright  to  the  settlers  he 
might  have  kept  their  support;  but  he  made  the  mis- 


172        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

take  of  charging  them  a  certain  rental  each  year 
in  addition  to  the  purchase  price.  This  the  inde- 
pendent borderers  did  not  like,  so  when  the  colony 
of  Virginia  refused  further  to  recognize  Henderson's 
government  there  were  no  very  strong  objections 
raised.  The  Judge  filled  an  important  role  in  the 
history  of  our  west. 

That  winter  was  a  bad  one,  what  with  the  ever- 
increasing  Indian  attacks,  the  bad  news  from  the  war, 
the  constantly  dwindling  numbers  of  the  whites,  and 
the  dread  of  what  was  probably  to  follow  when 
spring,  the  usual  time  for  the  opening  of  the  war- 
path, should  arrive.  Every  few  days  brought  ac- 
counts of  fresh  attacks,  more  deaths.  Ten  men  met 
at  Licking  Creek  by  Indians  and  defeated;  three 
killed.  A  large  party  attacked  McClelland's  fort, 
killing  and  wounding  several  men.  Two  men  killed 
at  the  Shawanese  spring.  The  Indians  attempted  to 
cut  off  a  small  party  from  the  fort;  four  men  wounded 
and  cattle  killed.  A  small  party  attacked  and 
scalped  Hugh  Wilson.  A  large  party  attacked  the 
stragglers  around  the  fort.  Such  are  a  few  of  the 
entries  in  a  diary  of  the  time.  In  these  difficult 
circumstances  Boone's  figure  towers  commandingly. 
He  was  described  as  having  a  "quick  perception  of 
expedients,  much  prudence  and  caution,  unyielding 
perseverance,  and  determined  valour,  combined  with 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        173 

superior  strength  and  activity  of  person."  Cer- 
tainly he  was  looked  to  for  advice,  for  encouragement, 
for  help,  and  for  leadership  in  every  crisis.  He  had 
little  assistance  in  the  point  of  numbers,  but  great 
help  in  the  quality  of  the  men  who  remained.  There 
were  twenty-two  riflemen  at  Boonesborough,  sixty- 
five  at  Harrodsburgh,  and  fifteen  at  Logans;  that  was 
all.  Boone  organized  a  small  scout  corps  whose 
business  it  was  to  keep  in  the  forest,  two  by  two, 
feeling  cautiously  in  all  directions  for  the  enemy, 
reading  the  signs,  and  coming  in  to  the  settlements 
only  for  fresh  supplies  of  ammunition  or  to  report. 
Simon  Kenton  was  the  most  skilful  of  these,  and 
one  of  the  most  bold.  He  was  a  big  powerful  man, 
standing  well  over  six  feet  tall  in  his  moccasins,  with 
blond  hair  and  a  frank,  open  countenance.  Next 
to  Boone  he  was  perhaps  the  greatest  scout  of  them 
all;  and  he  fell  short  of  Boone,  not  in  skill  or  in 
courage,  but  in  coolness  and  judgment.  His  life  in 
the  forest  at  this  time  was  like  a  romance:  sleeping 
out  without  fire,  skulking  through  the  woodland, 
hovering  on  the  flanks  of  his  enemies,  striking  when 
the  moment  seemed  right,  and  thoroughly  enjoying 
it  all.  Several  times  he  was  taken  prisoner.  Eleven 
times  he  ran  the  gauntlet.  Again  and  again  he 
was  within  an  inch  of  torture  and  death,  but  always 
either  escaped  or  was  reprieved.     Once  the  famous 


174        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

renegade  Simon  Girty  recognized  and  took  pity  on 
him.  And  to  him  and  his  brother  scouts  and  rang- 
ers in  the  forest  was  due  much  of  the  credit  for  the 
persistence  of  the  whites.  Again  and  again  their 
timely  warnings  assembled  the  settlers  in  the  stock- 
ades before  the  savages  could  accomplish  their  sur- 
prise. 

The  two  men  assigned  by  Boone  as  scouts  for 
Boonesborough  itself  were  Simon  Kenton  and 
Thomas  Brooks.  They  had  a  big  job,  and  they  did 
it  well;  but  two  men  could  not  always  cover  an  entire 
countryside.  Early  in  March  a  party  of  Shawnees 
under  a  celebrated  chief  named  Blackfish  were  lurk- 
ing just  outside  the  clearing  waiting  for  a  chance. 
Kenton  had  known  of  their  presence  in  the  country, 
and  was  close  on  their  trail,  but  could  not  arrive  at 
the  fort  before  them.  He  was  too  well  acquainted 
with  Indians  to  try  to  get  in  until  after  dark,  when 
he  succeeded  in  slipping  safely  past,  but  too  late  to 
prevent  the  killing  of  two  of  the  garrison.  On  the 
twenty-fourth  of  April  again  the  Indians  surrounded 
the  fort  a  hundred  strong,  and  just  at  a  time  when 
Kenton  was  at  home  for  some  purpose.  For  some 
good  reason  that  we  do  not  know  the  white  men 
thought  this  a  small  party.  Men  like  Boone  and 
Kenton  were  not  easily  deceived,  and  they  knew  the 
various  Indian  stratagems  well.     One  of  the  simplest 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        175 

was  to  lure  the  garrison  out  of  a  fort  in  pursuit  of  a 
small  party  and  then  ambush  it  with  a  larger.  Boone 
knew  this  as  you  know  your  alphabet.  Therefore, 
there  must  have  been  some  very  good  reason  never 
recorded  why  he  was  deceived  on  this  occasion. 
It  looks  as  though  the  wily  Blackfish  must  have  out- 
done himself. 

At  any  rate  a  man  named  Daniel  Goodman  was 
walking  alone  across  the  clearing  outside  the  fort 
when  an  Indian,  with  a  yell  of  triumph,  leaped  for- 
ward from  behind  a  tree  and  tomahawked  and 
scalped  him.  Unfortunately  for  the  exulting  savage 
Simon  Kenton  happened  to  be  standing  near  the 
fort  gate,  and,  as  always  with  these  scouts,  he 
carried  his  rifle  across  his  forearm.  It  was  a  long, 
quick  shot;  but  Kenton  dropped  his  man.  At  the 
report  a  half-dozen  savages  rose  like  quail  and 
scattered  for  cover.  Immediately  the  men  of  the 
garrison  dashed  in  pursuit.  It  is  probable,  from  the 
fact  that  Kenton  was  in  the  fort,  that  he  had  brought 
news  of  the  customary  small  band,  and  that  the 
large  war  party  had  followed  in  after  their  decoys. 
At  any  rate  the  white  men  were  suddenly  fired  upon 
from  all  sides,  and  at  once  rushed  upon  by  over- 
whelming numbers  of  savages.  If  the  Indians  had 
known  enough  to  keep  to  rifle  fire  they  would  prob- 
ably have  killed  every  man,  but  the  powerful  white 


176        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

men,  fighting  in  a  compact  group,  were  able  to  force 
their  way  back  to  the  clearing.  Kenton  killed  three 
Indians  with  his  own  hand. 

At  the  first  fire  Boone  fell  with  a  shattered  ankle. 
Instantly  an  Indian  leaped  from  behind  a  tree,  his 
tomahawk  upraised.  Two  jumps  took  him  to  the 
prostrate  man.  In  another  instant  the  weapon 
would  have  crashed  into  Boone's  skull,  but  Simon 
Kenton,  ever  ready,  killed  the  Indian  with  one  of 
his  famous  quick  snap-shots.  Then  the  scout  lifted 
his  helpless  captain  with  one  arm,  and  with  the  other 
fought  his  way  back  to  the  fort  gate.  It  is  recorded 
that  when  he  laid  Boone  down,  the  great  Hunter 
said — "Well,  Simon,  you  are  a  fine  fellow";  and  it 
is  further  recorded  that  Kenton  was  as  elated  and 
proud  of  this  as  a  dog  with  two  tails.  Which  little 
incident  is  an  illuminating  commentary  on  both 
men.  Having  failed  in  their  stratagem,  the  Indians 
withdrew. 

The  broken  ankle  laid  Boone  up  for  several 
months.  Nevertheless,  he  was  able  to  direct  many 
a  day-and-night  defense  from  his  room.  You  would 
think  that  a  strict  defensive  would  have  suited  the 
most  exacting,  but  once  these  bold  riflemen  actually 
ventured  clear  to  the  Ohio  River,  had  two  little 
skirmishes  and  won  both  of  them.  This  was  just 
to  show  the  enemy  that  they  were  still  going  strong; 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        177 

for  with  their  small  numbers  they  could  not  hope  to 
accomplish  much  else. 

Two  weeks  later  the  Indians  made  a  really  serious 
attempt.  Kenton  and  Brookes  this  time  managed 
to  bring  warning,  so  there  was  no  surprise.  But 
the  savages  came  in  great  numbers,  and  evidently 
under  good  leadership,  for  they  sent  detachments  to 
make  demonstration  against  the  other  two  stations 
in  order  to  prevent  their  dispatching  re  enforce- 
ments. 

Then  commenced  a  most  vigorous  attack  that 
continued  without  intermission  for  forty -eight  hours. 
The  Indians  were  as  ten  to  one,  and  they  kept  up  an 
incessant  fire,  and  made  unremitting  attempts  to  burn 
down  the  stockade.  The  forest  resounded  with  wild 
yells  and  the  roll  of  musketry.  Inside,  the  little  force 
had  not  a  moment's  rest.  The  portholes  must  be 
continuously  manned,  the  fire  continuously  main- 
tained, so  that  no  savage  would  be  able  to  creep  for- 
ward. The  women  fought  side  by  side  with  the  men, 
taking  their  turn  at  the  portholes,  melting  bullets, 
loading  the  rifles  and  handing  them  forward,  caring 
for  the  wounded,  cooking  the  food.  All  the  wiles 
and  stratagems  of  siege  warfare  they  had  to  guess 
and  forestall.  At  the  end  of  the  forty-eight  hours 
the  Indians  suddenly  and  quietly  withdrew.  After 
it  had  been  thoroughly  established  by  the  scouts  that 


178        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

this  was  not  another  stratagem  the  gates  were 
thrown  open  and  the  famished  cattle  and  the  wearied 
defenders  poured  forth  into  the  blessed  open. 

There  were  many  similar  attacks  on  the  three  re- 
maining forts:  all  very  much  alike,  but  all  exciting 
enough  to  the  defenders,  you  may  be  sure.  In  the 
frontier  annals  are  many  striking  tales  of  heroism. 
For  example,  one  of  these  border  stockades  was 
once  surrounded  so  suddenly  and  after  so  long  a 
period  of  immunity  that  the  settlers  were  caught 
with  their  water  reservoirs  nearly  empty.  As  yet 
the  Indians  had  not  made  their  attack,  nor  even 
declared  themselves,  and  were  lurking  in  the  forests 
round  about  awaiting  the  opportunity  for  a  sur- 
prise. They  did  not  yet  know  that  the  settlers  were 
aware  of  their  presence.  Here  was  a  terrible  situ- 
ation: without  water  the  siege  that  was  to  follow 
was  sure  to  prove  fatal,  not  only  because  of  thirst, 
but  because  without  water  it  would  be  impossible  to 
quench  flames.  At  this  juncture  the  women  made 
a  proposal. 

"It  is  certain  death  for  men  to  try  to  reach  the 
spring"  said  they,  "on  the  other  hand,  the  Indians 
believe  that  they  are  yet  undiscovered,  so  perhaps 
they  would  not  attack  us.  It  is  usual  for  the  women 
to  get  water,  and  if  we  go  to  the  spring  as  we  always 
do,  they  will  then  surely  think  we  do  not  know  of 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        179 

their  presence.  And  as  they  hope  to  surprise  the 
fort  they  probably  will  let  us  go  and  come/' 

It  took  a  long  argument  to  convince  the  men. 
They  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  sending  their  wives, 
their  daughters,  their  sweethearts  out  unprotected 
fairly  into  the  hands  of  a  cruel  and  merciless  foe. 
Nevertheless,  this  was  the  only  possible  way,  and  at 
length  it  was  agreed. 

So  all  the  women  and  girls,  down  even  to  the 
little  things  of  five  and  six,  took  every  utensil  that 
would  carry  water  and  sauntered  out  from  the  fort 
to  the  spring.  All  must  look  natural.  The  least 
sign  of  fear  or  a  suspicion  that  all  was  not  as  usual 
would  bring  on  an  instant  attack.  They  must  walk 
slowly,  in  little  groups,  talking  and  laughing  care- 
lessly. At  the  spring  they  must  fill  their  utensils 
in  due  order,  without  haste,  keeping  up  still  their 
careless  talk;  and  then  at  last  they  must  return 
leisurely  to  the  fort,  not  in  the  compact  group  that 
would  give  them  comfort,  but  stragghng  naturally 
along.  All  the  time  they  felt  the  glaring  bright 
stare  of  the  savages  concealed  behind  the  leaves  of 
the  thick  undergrowth,  sometimes  so  close  that  the 
mere  outstretching  of  an  arm  would  have  sufficed  to 
bring  down  the  fatal  tomahawk.  Behind  the  logs 
of  the  palisades  the  white  men,  too,  watched  in  an 
agony,   holding  their   breath  with  suspense,  ready 


180        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

at  the  first  whoop  to  rush  forth  to  sell  their  lives 
as  dearly  as  possible.  The  very  forest  seemed  to 
have  fallen  silent  with  the  deadly  portent.  Yet 
these  women  and  children  played  out  their  parts  to 
perfection,  so  naturally  and  easily  as  to  deceive  an 
audience  the  most  critical  and  hostile  in  the  world. 
Only  when  they  had  reached  the  very  shadow  of 
the  stockade  did  some  of  the  littlest  girls  begin  to 
crowd  forward  against  their  mothers'  skirts. 

Another  incident  at  another  place  was  not  quite 
so  happy.  The  stockade,  after  suffering  considerable 
privation,  was  overjoyed  to  see  approaching  a  relief 
expedition  of  men  and  packhorses,  bringing  with 
them  munitions  and  provisions.  So  delighted  were 
the  settlers  that  they  fired  off  all  their  guns  at  once 
by  way  of  salute.  This  scared  the  horses  so  badly 
that  they  broke  loose  and  ran  away,  provisions  and 
all,  and  were  never  recovered ! 

On  the  25th  of  July,  however,  the  bad  times  were 
for  the  moment  ended  by  the  arrival  of  a  hundred  and 
forty-five  men  sent  by  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
in  answer  to  Boone's  urgent  messages.  The  Colo- 
nies were  having  their  hands  full  enough  with  the 
British  at  this  time,  and  could  ill  spare  even  this 
small  body  of  troops,  but  it  was  felt  that  the  bor- 
derers had  earned  a  little  respite! 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THAT  respite  they  utilized  in  characteristic 
fashion.  After  assuring  themselves  a  supply 
of  meat  by  the  hunting  they  had  of  late  to 
accomplish  by  stealth,  the  hardy  frontiersmen  set 
out  in  numerous  small  expeditions  to  hunt  Indians. 
These  were  literally  hunting  expeditions,  and  the 
men  conducting  them  lurked  in  the  forest  as  wolves 
lurk  for  prey.  Many  were  the  single  combats;  the 
stratagems;  the  surprises;  the  bold  forays.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  Simon  Kenton  with  two  men, 
scouting  in  the  heart  of  the  Indians'  own  country 
north  of  the  Ohio  River,  actually  managed  at  night 
to  steal  all  the  horses  from  an  Indian  village,  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  in  number.  In  spite  of  the 
encumbrance  of  driving  such  a  band  through  wooded 
country  they  reached  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  safely 
on  the  morning  of  the  second  day.  The  river  at 
that  point  was  very  wide  and  deep,  and  unfortunately 
a  gale  was  blowing  that  raised  quite  a  heavy  sea. 
Kenton  and  his  companions  could  not  induce  the 
animals  to  face  the  swim.  They  could  of  course 
have  escaped   easily  enough,   but  with  character- 

181 


182        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

istic  reckless  obstinacy  they  kept  on  trying  at 
different  points.  In  this  instance  they  cut  it  too 
fine:  the  Indians  overtook  them;  one  white  was 
killed,  one  escaped,  and  Kenton  was  captured.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  that  our  old  acquaintance 
Blackfish  was  the  chief  of  the  Indians:  and  that  the 
first  thing  he  did  was  to  make  careful  inquiry  as  to 
whether  Kenton  was  acting  under  Boone's  command 
to  steal  the  horses,  or  on  his  own  initiative.  In  one 
case  it  was  an  act  of  war;  in  the  other  just  a  plain 
stealing  expedition.  Kenton  replied  that  he  had 
done  it  of  his  own  accord,  and  thereby  entered  into 
a  long  experience  of  torture  and  captivity. 

Peck  gives  an  interesting  impression  of  Boone  at 
this  period : 

"As  dangers  thickened,  and  appearances  grew 
more  alarming,  as  scouts  came  in  with  rumours  of 
Indians  seen  here  and  there,  and  as  the  hardy  and 
bold  woodsmen  sat  around  their  campfires  with 
loaded  rifle  at  hand  rehearsing  for  the  twentieth 
time  the  tale  of  noble  daring  or  hair-breadth  escape, 
Boone  would  sit  silent,  apparently  not  heeding  the 
conversation,  employed  in  repairing  the  rents  in  his 
hunting  shirt  and  leggings,  moulding  bullets,  or 
cleaning  his  rifle.  Yet  the  eyes  of  the  garrison  were 
on  him.  Concerning  Indian  signs  he  was  an  oracle. 
Sometimes  with  one  or  two  trusty  companions,  but 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        183 

more  frequently  alone,  as  night  closed  in  he  would 
steal  away  noiselessly  into  the  woods,  to  reconnoitre 
the  surrounding  wilderness;  and  in  the  daytime 
stealthily  would  he  creep  along,  his  trusty  rifle  resting 
on  his  arm,  ready  for  the  least  sign  of  danger;  his 
keen,  piercing  eyes  glancing  into  every  thicket  or 
canebrake,  or  watching  intently  for  signs  of  the  wily 
enemy.  Accustomed  to  range  the  country  as  a 
hunter  and  a  scout,  he  would  frequently  meet  the 
approaching  travellers  on  the  road  and  pilot  them 
into  the  settlement  while  his  rifle  supplied  them  with 
provisions.  He  was  ever  more  ready  to  aid  the  com- 
munity or  engage  in  public  service  than  to  attend 
to  his  private  interests." 

These  individual  raids  and  combats  had  the  effect 
of  impressing  the  Shawnees.  From  the  hifltops 
they  had  seen  Colonel  Bowman's  reenforcements 
marching  in.  The  Colonel,  suspecting  that  such  an 
audience  would  be  watching,  had  skilfully  deployed 
his  men  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  most  of 
their  numbers.  The  Shawnees  had  returned  with 
exaggerated  tales.  It  must  be  remembered  that  as 
yet  the  peace  treaty  was  supposed  to  be  in  force; 
however,  it  might  actually  be  broken.  The  chief- 
tains were  not  yet  ready  to  come  out  openly  on  the 
British  side,  although  they  were  accepting  arms,  am- 
munition, and  presents. 


184        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

But  a  new  difficulty  arose.  Again  the  supply 
of  salt  at  Boonesborough  became  exhausted.  Owing 
to  the  constant  alarms  of  the  summer  just  past  the 
variety  of  food  had  decreased  until  now  venison, 
cornbread,  and  turnips  were  all  that  remained. 
This  was  a  monotonous  enough  diet,  but  it  was 
particularly  insipid  without  salt.  Sickness  threat- 
ened. By  Christmas  the  situation  became  desperate. 
The  long  journey  over  the  mountains  for  such  a 
commodity  was  appalling;  and  as  it  was  now  mid- 
winter, and  as  Indians  were  rarely  on  the  warpath 
at  that  time  of  year,  it  was  agreed  that  a  party  of 
the  settlers  should  try  boiling  out  a  supply  from  the 
salt  springs  at  Blue  Licks.  This  was  no  light  job. 
It  was  necessary  to  boil  down  from  five  to  eight 
hundred  gallons  of  the  water  to  produce  a  single 
bushel.  So  you  can  imagine  the  time  it  would  take 
to  get  an  adequate  supply  with  only  makeshift 
cooking  kettles. 

Boone  gathered  a  party  of  thirty  men  from  the 
three  forts,  partly  of  the  borderers,  partly  of  the 
militia  re  enforcements.  With  a  few  packhorses 
carrying  only  the  kettles,  axes,  and  bedding  they 
started  out.  For  food  they  were  to  depend  en- 
tirely on  Boone's  rifle.  The  winter  was  a  severe 
one,  and  even  at  the  salt  making  around  the  fire 
the  little  party  suffered  acutely.     It  hindered  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        185 

work,  but  after  some  weeks  they  sent  back  three 
men  with  the  laden  packhorses.  They  got  through 
safely,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  people. 

But  about  the  second  week  in  February  the  work 
came  to  an  end  with  dramatic  suddenness.  The 
weather  was  intensely  cold;  so  cold  that  when  Boone, 
hunting  in  a  blinding  snowstorm,  encountered  a 
large  party  of  Indians,  he  was  too  benumbed  to 
outrun  the  first  dash  of  their  young  men.  With  his 
characteristic  good  sense  he  offered  no  resistance 
whatever  when  once  he  saw  that  resistance  would 
be  useless;  but  dropping  the  butt  of  his  long  rifle  on 
the  ground  he  laughed  good-naturedly  as  though  the 
joke  were  on  him.  Instantly  he  was  surrounded  by 
a  large  war  party,  curious,  triumphant,  overjoyed, 
for  Boone  was  instantly  recognized.  Indeed,  in 
this  party  were  his  captors  of  eight  years  before, 
who  laughed  heartily  at  finding  him  again  in  their 
hands.  The  Indians  shook  his  hand,  patted  him 
on  the  shoulder,  called  him  "brother,"  for  so  famous 
was  he  on  the  border  that  the  savages  would  rather 
have  captured  him  than  George  Washington  him- 
self. In  the  meantime,  Boone's  keen  brain,  behind 
his  careless  exterior,  had  been  swiftly  noting  de- 
tails. He  saw  that  this  was  a  war  party  by  its  paint 
and  equipment,  that  it  was  a  serious  war  party  by  its 
numbers,  and  that  it  was  an  important  war  party 


186        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

by  its  discipline,  its  leadership,  the  presence  with 
it  of  two  Frenchmen,  and  the  fact  that  contrary  to 
all  custom  it  had  taken  the  warpath  in  the  dead  of 
winter.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  expe- 
dition had  a  definite  object;  and  that  object  could 
be  no  other  than  the  capture  of  Boonesborough. 
Also  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  Indians  must 
have  been  made  aware  that  so  many  of  the  garrison 
were  away.  Indeed,  the  fact  that  they  apparently 
had  intended  to  pass  by  the  salt-makers  without 
attempting  to  gather  their  tempting  scalps  proved 
plainly  enough  the  singlemindedness  of  their  pur- 
pose and  the  danger  of  Boonesborough. 

All  these  things  Boone  saw  clearly  as  he  leaned  on 
his  long  rifle  and  smiled  in  the  faces  of  his  enemies: 
and  in  that  few  moments  he  made  up  his  mind  to  a 
course  of  action.  He  knew  not  only  the  fort's 
weakness  in  numbers,  but  that  one  side  of  its  stock- 
ade was  even  then  in  the  course  of  reconstruction. 
The  presence  of  the  women  and  children  at  the  fort 
made  the  merest  chance  of  its  capture  unthinkable. 

Boone  greeted  the  chief  of  the  Indians,  our  ac- 
quaintance Blackfish,  with  cordiality.  His  manner 
under  the  fierce  scrutiny  of  the  crowding  warriors 
showed  no  trace  of  fear  nor  even  of  uneasiness;  nor 
did  he  appear  to  the  closest  inspection  as  other  than 
a  visitor  among  them.     By  some  means  he  man- 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        187 

aged  to  convey  the  idea,  and  to  get  it  believed  that 
he  was  on  the  whole  rather  glad  to  be  captured,  that 
he  was  wearied  of  fighting  and  would  not  be  averse 
to  a  life  of  peace  with  his  old  enemies.  As  it  was 
well  known  through  all  the  tribes  that  Boone  had 
always  fought  fairly  and  justly  and  without  hatred, 
as  his  reputation  for  equitable  dealing  and  wisdom 
was  as  well  established  as  his  renown  as  a  fighter, 
in  some  way  he  managed  to  gain  complete  credence. 
He  then  went  on  to  persuade  them  that  it  might  not 
be  impossible  to  arrange  that  all  his  people  at 
Boonesborough  would  rather  live  farther  north, 
among  friendly  Indians,  than  here  on  the  dark  and 
bloody  ground,  exposed  to  constant  danger  and 
alarm.  He  proposed  that  they  test  him  by  allowing 
him  to  persuade  the  salt-makers  to  surrender  peace- 
ably. Then  he  suggested  that  in  the  spring,  when 
the  weather  was  warmer,  they  should  all  return  to 
Boonesborough  properly  equipped  with  horses  to 
carry  the  women  and  children.  Thus  the  whole 
settlement  would  be  content  to  move  north,  to  live 
thenceforth  as  the  adopted  children  of  the  Shawnees. 
This  he  made  sound  entirely  reasonable.  His  ex- 
traordinary influence  over  the  Indians  always  has 
excited  much  wonder;  but  it  was  simply  that  he 
possessed  all  the  qualities  they  particularly  ad- 
mired, and  was  in  addition  calm,  just,  and  merciful. 


188        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

After  a  long  conference  he  succeeded  in  influencing 
Blackfish  to  turn  aside  for  the  purpose  of  gathering 
in  the  salt-makers.  In  return  for  a  promise  of  good 
treatment  for  them  all  Boone  guaranteed  they 
would  surrender  peaceably.  When  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  camp  Boone  was  permitted  by  the 
Indians  to  advance  alone — which  in  itself  shows 
confidence  in  his  word — to  talk  with  his  comrades. 
The  latter  agreed  to  follow  his  advice  implicitly — 
another  evidence  of  confidence,  this  time  on  the  part 
of  the  white  man — and  so  laid  down  their  arms  and 
surrendered. 

There  was  difficulty  now.  Many  of  the  Shawnee 
warriors  claimed  that  in  this  negotiation  they  had 
not  been  consulted:  they  had  come  far  on  the  war, 
path,  and  they  were  loth  to  turn  back  now  without 
scalps.  A  council  was  called,  which  lasted  two  hours. 
Blackfish  struggled  vehemently  in  debate.  Boone 
was  asked  again  to  state  his  plan,  which  he  did 
through  the  interpretation  of  a  negro  named  Pompey, 
who  was  now  a  member  of  the  tribe.  At  last  it 
came  to  a  vote.  The  question  never  involved  the 
killing  of  Boone  himself,  but  was  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  salt-makers  should  be  killed.  The  war  club  was 
passed  from  one  warrior  to  another.  If  he  struck 
the  ground  with  it  he  voted  for  death;  if  he  passed 
it  silently  to  his  neighbour  he  voted  for  clemency. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        189 

Fifty-nine  struck  the  earth;  sixty -one  passed  the 
war  club ! 

But  though  the  vote  was  so  close,  the  decision  was 
accepted  as  final;  and  thereafter  the  captives  were 
scrupulously  well  treated. 

They  journeyed  back  at  once  to  the  Indian  town 
of  Old  Chillicothe,  and  even  Boone  says  it  was  an 
uncomfortable  journey,  for  the  weather  was  still 
very  cold.  They  arrived  on  the  eleventh  day.  As 
usual,  when  returning  with  captives,  the  war  party 
stopped  outside  the  town  to  dress  and  paint,  and  to 
strip  a  pole  on  the  end  of  which  was  hung  a  ''con- 
juring bag"  containing  locks  of  hair  from  each  of 
the  prisoners.  Then  Blackfish  gave  three  yells, 
and  the  band  began  to  sing  and  to  dance  around 
the  stripped  pole.  At  once  the  squaws  and  boys 
rushed  out  to  the  scene  of  celebration,  while  the 
warriors  who  had  remained  at  home  from  the  expe- 
dition retired  in  dignity  to  the  council  house.  The 
squaws  carried  in  the  baggage,  leaving  the  arriving 
warriors,  in  their  gala  paint,  free  to  make  a  grand 
entrance,  and  to  dance  around  the  town's  war  post. 
This  they  did  for  about  twenty  minutes,  after  which 
they  entered  the  council  house  with  their  prisoners. 

This  and  more  elaborate  ceremonies  took  place 
always.  Blackfish  was  exceedingly  proud  of  the 
numbers  and  quality  of  his  prisoners. 


190        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

After  Chillicothe  had  admired  to  its  heart's  con- 
tent he  began  to  desire  further  praise.  A  grand  tour 
was  devised,  ending  at  Detroit,  then  the  British 
headquarters.  They  took  Boone  and  ten  other 
white  men  and  started  out  as  a  sort  of  travelHng 
circus  with  exhibits.  Everywhere  they  received 
good  treatment,  and  at  the  end  of  twenty  days 
arrived  in  Detroit. 

All  this  time  Boone  with  his  infinite  patience  and 
infinite  sagacity  never  ceased  for  one  moment  to 
impress  himself  in  the  good  graces  of  the  savages. 
In  this  he  succeeded  better  than  he  expected,  rather 
too  well,  as  it  turned  out.  Boone  was  everything  a 
savage  admired.  He  was  quiet  and  silent,  and  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  average  borderer  was 
apt  to  be  noisy  and  brawling.  He  was  brave;  and 
yet  he  used  the  sense  of  prudence.  He  was  es- 
pecially endowed  with  that  considered  and  de- 
liberate wisdom  so  desired  by  the  red  man.  But 
especially  he  was  "always  willing  to  deal  with  the 
Indians  as  having  manhood  and  humanity  about 
them,  instead  of  waging  a  war  of  extirpation,  as 
against  wild  beasts."  In  fact,  so  closely  did  Boone 
approximate  the  Indian  ideals  of  virtue,  and  in  so 
genuinely  friendly  a  man-to-man  fashion  did  he 
always  deal  with  them,  that  it  was  said  of  him  that 
"the  Indians  could  not  imagine  how  Boone  could 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        191 

be  a  perpetual  foe  to  them."  Without  doubt  they 
believed  at  this  moment — under  his  careful  teaching 
them  so  to  believe — that  as  he  was  so  nearly  an  In- 
dian in  virtue  he  could  not  fail  to  wish  to  be  an  In- 
dian in  fact! 

They  stayed  at  Detroit  for  about  a  month,  camp- 
ing, as  was  usual  with  the  Indians,  outside  the 
works.  At  this  time  Hamilton  was  commandant, 
and  under  him  were  many  oflScers,  and  with  them 
white  women  of  rank.  In  its  small  way  this  was  a 
brilliant  society.  To  the  Shawnee  chieftain  it  was 
a  prideful  matter  to  have  this  celebrated  prisoner 
to  show  off  as  his  property.  And  the  prisoner  was 
indeed  celebrated.  The  English  crowded  to  view 
him  as  a  curiosity;  but  seem  to  have  capitulated  to 
the  simplicity  and  directness  and  charm  of  his 
character,  for  almost  immediately  we  see  the  rough 
frontiersman  being  sought  and  entertained  by  the 
most  exclusive  of  these  English  gentlemen  and 
ladies,  people  usually  profoundly  contemptuous  of 
"the  uncouth  and  illiterate  backwoodsmen."  In- 
deed shortly  we  see  them  further  giving  a  more  sub- 
stantial guarantee  of  their  interest.  Governor  Ham- 
ilton himself  tried  to  ransom  Boone  from  his  Indian 
captors,  and  gradually  raised  his  price  to  one  hun- 
dred pounds  sterling,  which  was  an  enormous  sum 
for  such  a  purpose  in  those  days  and  at  the  value 


192        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

money  then  bore.  But  Blackfish  steadily  refused. 
As  we  have  hinted,  Boone  had  only  too  well  suc- 
ceeded with  his  captors.  He  had  not  only  gained 
their  confidence  but  their  affection.  Blackfish  flatly 
refused  to  ransom  him  at  any  price.  As  the  British 
alliance  with  the  Indians  was  hanging  in  the  balance, 
Hamilton  did  not  dare  press  the  matter.  The  other 
white  men  were  freely  left  as  prisoners  of  war  with 
the  British,  a  fate  infinitely  preferable  to  what 
would  have  happened  to  them  if  Boone  had  not 
made  terms  for  them.  But  Boone  himself  they 
intended  to  keep.  This  attempt  at  ransom  having 
proved  a  failure,  the  English  oiBScers  made  up  a  sum 
of  money  which  they  offered  the  Scout  as  a  gift  for 
his  immediate  necessities.  Boone  declined  this 
kindly  offer  with  gratitude,  but  with  dignity,  saying 
simply  that  he  "looked  forward  through  the  prob- 
abilities of  his  life,  and  saw  no  prospect  of  his  being 
able  to  repay." 

The  savages,  with  Boone,  returned  over  the  hard 
and  difficult  journey  to  Old  Chillicothe.  Then  they 
settled  down,  and  Boone  was  adopted  into  the  tribe. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  ceremony  of  adoption  was  very  formal, 
and  somewhat  painful.  Blackfish  himself 
purposed  taking  the  scout  into  his  own 
family  where,  as  Boone  himself  says,  **I  became  a 
son,  and  had  a  great  share  in  the  affection  of  my  new 
parents,  brothers,  sisters,  and  friends." 

First  of  all,  an  old  Indian  squatted  down  in  front 
of  him  and  began  slowly  and  ceremoniously  to  pull 
out  all  his  hair,  with  the  exception  of  the  scalp  lock 
on  the  crown;  "as  if  he  had  been  plucking  a  turkey," 
James  Smith  describes  the  process.  "He  had," 
Smith  adds,  "some  ashes  on  a  piece  of  bark,  in 
which  he  frequently  dipped  his  fingers  in  order  to  get 
a  firmer  hold."  The  scalp  lock  was  then  divided 
into  three  parts,  two  of  which  were  wrapped  about 
with  narrow  beaded  bands,  and  the  third  was 
braided  and  ornamented  with  silver  brooches. 
Next  Boone  was  instructed  to  remove  his  clothes 
and  put  on  a  breech  clout.  His  face  and  body  were 
painted  in  ceremonial  colours  and  patterns,  and  he 
was  ornamented  with  a  neck  belt  of  wampum,  and 
silver  bracelets  and  armlets.     All  this  took  place 

193 


194        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

within  the  house.  The  chief  then  took  him  by  the 
hand  and  led  him  into  the  street  and  uttered  rapidly 
several  times  the  alarm  yell.  Immediately  the  whole 
village  came  running.  Still  holding  Boone  by  the 
hand  Blackfish  made  a  long  speech,  after  which  the 
new  member  was  taken  by  the  women  of  his  Indian 
family  to  the  river  where  he  was  scrubbed  thoroughly 
from  head  to  foot.  This  was  supposed  to  wash  out 
the  white  blood.  He  was  given  a  white  staff  orna- 
mented with  deers'  tails  and  returned  to  the  lodge  of 
his  captor,  Blackfish.  In  the  case  of  the  usual  cap- 
tive the  family  then  had  a  choice  of  whether  he 
should  be  killed  or  adopted;  but  as  this  had  already 
been  decided,  Boone  was  taken  to  the  great  council 
house.  This  was  a  long  structure  without  partitions, 
with  a  door  at  each  end  over  which  was  drawn  the 
totem  animal  of  the  tribe,  and  on  the  doorposts  of 
which  were  carved  the  faces  of  old  men,  emblems  of 
gravity  and  wisdom.  Running  the  length  of  the 
walls  were  raised  benches  or  bunks  covered  with  mats 
of  rushes.  Here  other  members  of  the  tribe  had 
already  brought  presents  of  clothes.  Besides  the 
useful  hunters'  garments  and  blankets  were  other 
things,  such  as — it  is  James  Smith  again  who  tells 
us — "  a  new  ruffled  shirt,  which  I  put  on,  also  a  pair 
of  leggings  done  off  with  ribbons  and  beads,  likewise 
a  pair  of  moccasins  and  garters  dressed  with  beads. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        195 

porcupine  quills,  and  red  hair — also  a  tinsel  lace 
cappo."  Now  Boone's  face  and  body  were  again 
painted,  in  new  colours  and  designs,  and  a  bunch  of 
straight  red  feathers  tied  to  his  scalp  lock.  He  was 
presented  with  a  pipe,  a  tomahawk,  flint  and  steel, 
and  a  tobacco  pouch,  and  made  to  seat  himself  on  a 
bearskin.  Next  entered  into  the  council  house  all 
the  warriors  of  the  tribe,  in  ceremonial  paint,  and 
wearing  all  the  finery  they  owned.  These  seated 
themselves  in  a  circle  along  the  walls  of  the  council 
house,  and  for  a  time  there  was  a  profound  silence 
while  the  smoke  curled  upward  from  the  calumets. 
Then  at  length  Blackfish  arose  and  made  a  speech. 

"My  son,"  said  he,  *'you  are  now  flesh  of  our 
flesh  and  bone  of  our  bone.  By  the  ceremony  which 
was  performed  this  day  every  drop  of  white  blood 
was  washed  out  of  your  veins;  you  were  taken  into 
the  Shawnee  nation  and  initiated  mto  a  warlike 
tribe;  you  are  adopted  m.to  a  great  family,  and  now 
received  in  the  place  of  a  great  man."  [Smith's  re- 
port again.  The  new  member  was  supposed  to  fill 
in  the  family  the  place  of  an  Indian  who  had  been 
killed.] 

"You  are  now  one  of  us  by  an  old  strong  law  and 
custom.  My  son,  you  have  nothing  to  fear;  we  are 
now  under  the  same  obligations  to  love,  support,  and 
defend  you  that  we  are  to  love  and  defend  one  an- 


196        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

other.  Therefore  you  are  to  consider  yourself  one 
of  our  people." 

Personal  introductions  then  took  place,  as  at  a 
reception.  The  evening  was  spent  in  feasting. 
Boone  was  given  a  bowl  and  a  wooden  spoon.  The 
feast  was  of  venison  and  corn  boiled  together  in 
brass  kettles,  maple  sugar,  bears'  fat,  and  hominy. 
Thenceforward  no  distinction  was  made  between  him 
and  the  other  members  of  the  tribe.  "If  they  had 
plenty  of  clothing,  I  had  plenty;  if  we  were  scarce, 
we  all  shared  one  fate." 

Boone  was  named  Sheltowee,  or  Big  Turtle,  and 
taken  into  the  lodge  of  Blackfish.  The  chances  of 
escape  were  practically  nothing;  so  Boone,  with  his 
usual  sagacity,  so  heartily  entered  into  the  life  of 
the  tribe  and  its  occupations  that  he  soon  gained 
their  entire  confidence.  In  his  own  words:  "I  was 
exceedingly  friendly  and  familiar  with  them,  always 
appearing  as  cheerful  and  satisfied  as  possible,  and 
they  put  great  confidence  in  me.  The  Shawnee 
king  took  great  notice  of  me,  and  treated  me  with 
profound  respect  and  entire  friendship,  often  en- 
trusting me  to  hunt  at  my  liberty."  In  this  the 
Indians  took  only  one  precaution:  they  counted  the 
bullets  issued  to  Boone,  and  required  of  him  a  very 
exact  accounting  when  he  returned.  Boone  dis- 
covered that  a  half  bullet  with  a  light  powder  charge 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        197 

was  accurate  enough,  if  implanted  in  just  the  right 
spot,  to  bring  down  game  at  close  range;  so  he  cut 
his  bullets  in  two,  took  especial  pains  in  his  stalking, 
and  thus  managed  to  accumulate  a  store  of  ammuni- 
tion under  the  Shawnees'  very  noses. 

He  went  often  on  beaver-hunting  expeditions,  for 
the  severe  winter  was  very  favourable  for  capturing 
these  animals  by  other  than  the  usual  trapping 
methods.  The  beavers,  as  you  know,  live  in  conical- 
shaped  "houses,"  the  entrances  to  which  are  under 
water.  They  have  passages  in  the  river  banks 
called  washes.  The  procedure  was  to  break  in  the 
roofs  of  the  houses,  whereupon  the  beavers  betook 
themselves  to  the  washes  whence  they  were  pulled 
out  by  hand.  It  took  considerable  address  to  seize 
them  without  being  bitten!  The  hunters  also 
looked  for  holes  where  the  bears  were  hibernating. 
They  preferred  to  find  the  male  bears,  and  could 
distinguish  because  the  holes  occupied  by  the  males 
were  always  next  the  ground,  while  the  females 
picked  out  their  winter  quarters  high  up  for  the 
safety  of  the  cubs  which  were  born  near  springtime. 

In  the  village  itself  he  took  part  in  the  various 
dances — the  calumet  dance,  the  chief's  dance,  the 
dead  dance,  the  marriage  dance,  the  sacrifice  dance. 
He  observed  the  marriage  customs :  where  the  suitor 
brings  his  gifts  to  the  bride's  parents,  leaving  them 


198        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

for  consideration.  If  the  bride's  relatives,  all  as- 
sembled in  council,  confirm  the  match,  they  return 
the  visit,  bringing  presents  and  also  the  girl  herself; 
but  if  they  disapprove,  or  the  young  lady  is  not 
willing,  they  return  the  suitor's  own  gifts  by  an- 
other messenger.  He  also  entered  into  the  various 
games;  and  here  he  proved  his  diplomacy  and  his 
knowledge  of  Indian  character.  "I  was  careful  not 
to  exceed  many  of  them  in  shooting;  for  no  people 
are  more  envious  than  they  in  this  sport.  I  could 
observe  in  their  countenances  and  gestures  the 
greatest  expressions  of  joy  when  they  exceeded  me; 
and,  when  the  reverse  happened,  of  envy."  He  also 
allowed  himself  to  be  distanced  in  the  races  and 
beaten  in  the  ball  games;  not  always,  but  more  often 
than  not,  so  that  the  vanity  of  the  savages  was 
gratified.  In  hunting,  however,  he  allowed  full 
scope  to  his  skill  and  genius;  which  were  so  remark- 
able, even  among  these  experts,  that  shortly  he  was 
being  used  as  a  sort  of  official  meat  provider.  He 
made  several  quite  long  expeditions;  and,  as  always, 
kept  his  eyes  open  and  made  observations  that 
might  prove  useful  to  future  settlers.  ''I  find," 
he  says,  "the  land,  for  a  great  extent  about  this 
river,  to  exceed  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  if  possible, 
and  remarkably  well  watered." 

Always  Boone  entered  heartily  and  with  genuine 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        199 

interest  in  the  life  as  it  was  lived  by  the  Indians. 
He  took  part  in  the  games  of  lacrosse.  Some  of 
these,  the  less  serious,  were  contested  between  the 
men  and  the  women.  In  concession  to  their  weaker 
sex  the  women  had  the  privilege  of  picking  up  the 
ball  and  running  with  it;  which  was  not  permitted 
the  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  men  were  allowed 
to  catch  and  shake  the  squaws  to  make  them  drop 
the  ball!  Boone  also  played  atergain,  which  is  a 
game  played  with  beans,  a  number  of  which  are 
placed  in  a  bowl.  One  of  these  beans  is  marked, 
and  is  called  the  chief.  The  player  shakes  the  bowl 
and  tries  to  make  the  chief  hop  out,  but  with  a  loss 
of  as  few  of  the  other  beans  as  possible.  When  he 
has  caused  the  chief  to  leap  out,  he  gains  as  many 
points  as  there  are  beans  left  in  the  bowl.  It  takes 
considerable  skill,  and  is  a  lot  of  fun.  Try  it. 
Another  game  was  to  shoot  arrows  at  a  rolling  hoop. 
This  was  done  both  horseback  and  afoot;  and  the 
object  was  not  to  shoot  through  the  centre  of  the 
hoop,  but  to  split  the  rim.  An  expert  at  bow  and 
arrow  could  hit  a  ha'penny  at  fifteen  yards,  we  are 
told. 

In  the  spring  the  Indians,  recollecting  the  occu- 
pation of  the  whites  when  captured,  took  Boone  to 
a  salt  spring  on  the  Scioto  and  set  him  to  boiling  out 
salt.     It  was  hard  and  monotonous  work,  not  at 


200        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

all  to  the  taste  of  an  Indian  warrior;  but  Boone,  with 
his  usual  equable  philosophy,  worked  patiently  and 
efficiently  at  it.  He  was  only  lightly  guarded,  but 
he  was  guarded;  and  after  due  consideration  of  all 
the  chances  he  decided  against  an  attempt  to  es- 
cape, and  returned  to  Chillicothe.  He  had  now 
been  in  the  Indian  town  over  four  months,  in  all  of 
which  time  no  faintest  indication  had  been  observed 
that  he  was  not  entirely  satisfied  with  his  lot. 

To  his  alarm,  during  his  fortnight's  absence, 
preparations  had  been  well  forwarded  for  another 
expedition  against  Boonesborough.  Nearly  five  hun- 
dred warriors  had  gathered;  and  the  ceremonials 
that  preceded  a  serious  warpath  were  well  under 
way.  In  the  great  council  house  the  elders  were 
gathered  daily  making  their  plans;  delivering 
speeches.  With  each  speech  the  orator  presented 
belts  of  wampum,  one  belt  for  each  point  he  wished 
to  have  remembered,  generally  of  white  and  black; 
the  white  made  from  pieces  of  the  inside  of  conch 
shells,  the  black  from  mussel  shells.  Outside  the 
council  house  the  younger  men  danced  around  the 
war  post  and  struck  their  tomahawks  into  it,  while 
the  women,  crooning,  patted  the  drums  in  rhythm. 
For  three  days  they  would  fast,  drinking  only  the 
war  drink  of  bitter  herbs  and  roots.  During  that 
time  no  warrior  could  sit  down,  or  even  lean  against 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        201 

anything,  until  after  sunset.  The  simple  provisions 
for  the  journey  were  already  prepared — corn  and 
maple  sugar.  These  would  be  in  the  control  of 
men  called  etissus,  who  would  parcel  them  out 
rigorously.  No  one  would  touch  a  mouthful  of 
anything,  either  of  the  supplies  carried  nor  of  the 
provisions  procured  on  the  way,  except  by  per- 
mission of  the  etissus.  The  waterproof  gun  covers 
of  loons'  skins  were  in  place.  The  war  budget  was 
made  up:  a  bag  containing  some  one  article  from 
each  man,  the  skin  of  a  snake,  the  tail  of  a  buffalo,  a 
martin  skin,  a  bird  skin,  or  what  not.  On  the  march 
this  budget  would  always  be  carried  at  the  very  head 
of  the  file  by  a  designated  oflficial.  When  the  party 
halted,  the  budget  was  laid  on  the  ground,  and  no 
one  was  permitted  to  pass  ahead  of  it  without  author- 
ity. This  was  as  a  measure  of  discipline.  There 
were  other  prohibitions,  too,  all  of  them  practical; 
such  as  that  no  one  was  allowed  to  lay  his  pack  on  a 
log,  nor  converse  about  women  or  home.  And  there 
were  other  rigid  ceremonies  on  the  warpath:  as,  for 
example,  when  a  beast  was  killed  for  food  its  heart 
was  cut  small  and  burned  on  an  especial  fire,  and 
nobody  must  step  across  this  fire  nor  go  around  it 
except  in  the  direction  of  the  sun.  Then  when  the 
time  came  for  attack,  the  budget  was  opened  and 
its  contents  distributed  to  their  owners,   who  at- 


202        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

tached  the  articles  to  the  part  of  the  body  estab- 
hshed  by  tradition  for  each.  After  the  battle  the 
budget  was  reassembled,  and  the  man  who  took  the 
first  scalp  now  had  the  privilege  of  carrying  it. 
After  the  return  he  could  suspend  it  before  his  door 
for  one  month;  a  great  honour. 

Promptly  at  the  end  of  the  three  days  of  fasting 
Boone  knew  that  the  war  party  would  set  forth  no 
matter  what  the  weather.  It  was  a  bad  omen 
otherwise.  In  single  file,  at  spaced  intervals,  the 
painted  warriors  would  move  from  the  town,  firing 
their  rifles  slowly  one  after  the  other,  beginning  at 
the  front  and  progressing  shot  by  shot  to  the  rear. 
Once  out  of  hearing  of  the  town,  however,  a  rigid 
silence  was  imposed.  Now  the  expedition  was 
launched  for  success  or  failure.  Nothing  could 
interfere  with  it  unless  someone  dreamed  an  un- 
propitious  dream ;  or  unless  a  certain  species  of  bird 
came  and  sang  near  an  encampment.  This  bird  the 
Indians  called  the  Kind  Messenger  because  it  thus 
brought  them  warning  that  the  expedition  was  not 
lucky.  In  either  of  the  cases  mentioned  they  always 
turned  back  unquestioningly. 

Boone  knew  that  his  time  was  short  and  that  if  he 
were  to  act,  it  must  be  at  once.  No  longer  could  he 
afford  to  wait  for  what  he  might  consider  a  propi- 
tious moment.     He  took  part  in  the  councils  and  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        203 

war  dance;  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  campaign  he 
even  made  one  or  two  practical  suggestions  that  were 
approved.  Not  by  a  word  or  look  did  he  indicate 
that  he  was  anything  but  pleased  at  the  turn  affairs 
had  taken.  The  Indians  were  completely  deceived. 
On  the  morning  of  June  fifteenth  they  doled  out 
what  they  considered  the  day's  supply  of  ammuni- 
tion and  sent  him  out  to  kill  deer  for  the  war  party. 
Boone  pouched  also  the  powder  and  half  bullets  he 
had  been  so  long  accumulating,  and  struck  out  boldly 
across  country  for  home. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THERE  could  hardly  have  been  a  more  un- 
propitious  time  for  an  attempt  at  escape. 
Five  hundred  warriors,  trained  to  the  minute, 
were  gathered;  provisions  were  prepared.  Instantly 
on  the  discovery  of  his  flight  Boone  knew  the  whole 
pack  would  be  on  his  trail.  They  knew  the  country 
thoroughly,  with  all  its  routes  and  also  all  its  diffi- 
culties and  obstructions.  The  course  he  must  take 
would  lead  through  forests,  swamps,  and  across  many 
rivers.  If  captured  he  could  expect  nothing  but  the 
torture,  for  the  Indians  could  not  fail  to  see  in  this 
attempt  a  deadly  insult;  and  he  now  possessed  many 
of  their  secrets  and  plans.  His  only  advantage  was 
his  certainty  of  a  few  hours*  start. 

It  was  subsequently  learned  that  his  absence  was 
discovered  more  quickly  than  he  had  hoped.  The 
entire  town  was  thrown  into  a  commotion  of  rage. 
Immediately  the  fleetest  runners  and  the  keenest 
hunters  were  thrown  out  broadcast  through  the 
forest,  while  others  began  to  puzzle  out  his  trail; 
and  still  others  loped  off  on  what  was  considered  his 
probable  route.     They  guessed  well.     Boone  found 

204 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        205 

himself  sorely  pressed.  He  had  to  use  his  every 
art  of  woodcraft.  He  doubled  and  twisted  and  ran, 
travelling  day  and  night,  almost  without  rest,  until 
the  Ohio  River  should  be  reached.  He  dared  not 
fire  his  gun,  so  his  stored  ammunition  was  of  no  use 
to  him.  He  dared  kindle  no  fire.  He  dared  spend 
no  time  searching  for  even  the  poor  food  the  barks 
and  roots  of  the  forest  afforded  him.  Time  and 
again  his  keen-eyed  foes  were  literally  all  about  him, 
but  time  and  again  he  shpped  through  them.  At 
length  he  pushed  the  bushes  cautiously  aside  and 
looked  out  across  the  reaches  of  the  Ohio  River. 
It  was  swollen  by  the  rains,  and  its  current  swept 
by  at  mill-race  speed.  Even  the  strongest  swimmer 
might  well  have  despaired  at  this  sight,  and  Boone 
was  not  a  good  swimmer.  He  had  no  time  to  cut  a 
log  and  trust  to  the  slow  and  uncertain  process  of 
kicking  himself  across,  for  the  Indians  were  by  now 
fairly  on  his  heels.  He  descended  to  the  shore, 
and  there  he  found  an  old  canoe  that  after  going 
adrift  at  some  unknown  point  far  upstream  had 
grounded  here  at  his  very  feet  to  answer  his  great 
need!  And  out  of  all  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  the 
river  course  he  had  picked  out  this  one  point  at 
which  to  emerge!  Do  you  wonder  that  his  simple 
faith  was  strong  that  he  was  "ordained  by  God  to 
conquer  the  wilderness".? 


206        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

The  canoe  had  a  hole  in  it,  but  Boone  managed  to 
make  quick  repairs  of  a  sort  good  enough  to  get  him 
across,  though  with  some  difficulty.  Once  on  the 
other  side  he  felt  safe  enough  to  shoot  and  cook  a 
wild  turkey,  which  is  recorded  as  being  the  only  food 
he  tasted  in  his  flight.  One  meal  in  five  days:  one 
hundred  and  sixty  miles  in  five  days. 

He  arrived  at  Boonesborough  emaciated,  gaunt, 
almost  exhausted.  His  reception  was  enthusiastic, 
but  he  had  to  meet  a  great  disappointment,  for  he 
had  long  since  been  given  up  as  lost,  and  Rebecca 
Boone  had  gathered  the  remnants  of  her  family  and 
returned  to  Carolina.  Boone  speaks  of  his  dis- 
appointment, and  incidentally  shows  the  great 
affection  that  existed  between  them.  "Oppressed," 
said  he,  "with  the  distress  of  the  country  and  be- 
reaved of  me,  her  only  happiness,  she  had  undertaken 
her  long  and  perilous  journey  through  the  wilder- 
ness." 

It  would  have  been  natural,  after  recuperating,  for 
him  to  have  followed  her,  and  most  men  would  have 
done  so;  but  Boone,  as  usual,  put  his  duty  first. 
As  he  had  feared,  he  found  the  fort  in  a  bad  state  of 
repair.  At  once  he  set  the  inhabitants  vigorously 
to  work,  and  within  ten  days  the  stockades  were  re- 
newed, new  bastions  had  been  built,  the  stores  of 
provisions  and  water  replenished,  and  all  was  pre- 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        207 

pared  to  resist  a  siege.  The  attack,  however,  de- 
layed. Boone's  escape  had  thrown  the  Indian  coun- 
cils into  confusion.  His  arrival  at  the  fort  had  of 
course  been  known  and  immediately  reported  back; 
as  also  his  vigorous  efforts  toward  putting  the  place 
in  condition  for  defense.  The  chance  for  a  surprise 
was  gone;  as  also  the  advantage  of  moving  against 
decaying  works.  A  Grand  Council  of  all  the  nation 
had  been  held.  The  elders  restrained  the  im- 
patience of  the  youths,  pointing  out  that  as  the 
possibility  of  surprise  had  been  lost,  it  would  be 
well  to  make  preparations  so  complete  and  accurate 
that  success  would  be  certain.  More  warriors  were 
summoned;  more  ammunition  collected.  This  ex- 
pedition against  Boonesborough  was  conceived  and 
executed  on  a  scale,  and  especially  with  a  dogged 
persistence,  that  had  never  been  equalled  in  Indian 
warfare.  The  siege  that  we  shall  soon  see  to  follow 
lasted  nine  days;  the  longest  single  attack  on  record; 
and  after  its  close  the  garrison  picked  up  "a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  pounds  of  flattened  bullets  that  had 
been  fired  at  the  log  stronghold — this  salvage  made 
no  account  of  the  balls  thickly  studding  the  walls." 
However,  that  was  later.  Having  finished  put- 
ting the  works  into  a  state  of  defense,  Boone,  with  his 
characteristic  boldness,  resolved  to  give  the  enemy 
something  to  think  about.     So  he  selected  nineteen 


208        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

of  the  best  woodsmen  and  with  them  set  out  on  his 
back  track  into  the  heart  of  the  enemies'  country! 
His  idea  was  not  so  much  that  he  could  inflict  sub- 
stantial damage  as  to  impress  the  Indians,  and  to 
find  out  for  himself  what  was  really  going  on.  Their 
only  provisions  were  dried  corn  and  maple  sugar, 
like  the  Indians'.  This  daring  foray  actually  crossed 
the  Ohio  River  and  penetrated  to  the  Scioto  River, 
where  Boone  had  been  employed  in  making  salt. 
They  managed  for  some  time  to  avoid  the  savages, 
but  at  length  ran  across  a  party  of  thirty  on  its  way 
to  join  the  main  army  at  Chillicothe.  What  Boone 
calls  a  "smart  fight"  ensued  in  the  forest.  Boone's 
nineteen  proved  too  much  for  the  thirty. 

Now  that  his  presence  in  the  country  had  been 
discovered,  he  knew  the  place  would  soon  be  too 
hot  for  him.  The  twenty  white  men  executed  a 
masterly  retreat,  avoiding  the  scouts  and  light 
parties  sent  out  to  intercept  them;  and  returned  in 
triumph  and  safety  to  the  fort.  Simon  Kenton  and 
another  man  stayed  behind  to  steal  some  horses, 
which  was  characteristic  of  that  bold  and  restless 
spirit.  In  consequence  he  was  not  in  the  fort  during 
the  great  battle,  and  that  caused  him  profound  grief ! 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ONE  thing  Boone's  expedition  had  clearly 
shown:  the  calm  interval  did  not  mean  that 
the  Indians  had  abandoned  their  project. 
The  warriors  were  gathered  at  the  Shawnee  town, 
and  shortly  they  set  forth  under  the  command  of 
Blackfish.  There  were  four  hundred  and  forty -four 
of  them,  and  with  them  twelve  whites  as  military 
advisers.  The  chief  of  these  was  a  French  Canadian, 
a  lieutenant  named  De  Quindre.  A  number  of 
very  important  and  famous  chiefs  were  with  the 
expedition:  such  as  Black  Bird,  whom  Patrick 
Henry  called  "the  great  Chippewa";  Moluntha, 
who  had  led  the  Shawnees  in  all  the  really  serious 
invasions  of  Kentucky;  and  Catahecassa,  who  had 
led  in  Braddock's  defeat.  Pompey,  the  negro,  was 
also  along,  valuable  mainly  because  he  spoke  Eng- 
lish, not  otherwise  highly  considered,  but  a  member 
of  the  tribe  for  all  that.  The  equipment  was  that 
usual  to  an  expedition  of  this  kind,  simple,  confined 
to  the  rifle  and  the  corn  wallet  for  the  warriors. 
But,  contrary  to  the  usual  custom,  almost  incredibly 
contrary,  was  the  presence  of  a  number  of  pack- 

209 


210        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

horses.  They  carried  extra  ammunition;  but  that 
was  only  in  order  that  they  might  carry  something. 
Their  intended  use  was  quite  different.  You  remem- 
ber that  when  Boone  surrendered  at  the  Salt  Licks 
he  gained  immunity  for  his  men  by  suggesting  that 
in  the  warmer  season  it  might  be  possible  to  move 
all  the  inhabitants  peaceably  to  the  Shawnee  coun- 
try there  to  live  in  adoption,  and  that  he  suggested, 
further,  that  packhorses  be  brought  for  the  purpose 
of  transporting  the  children  and  the  household 
goods. '^  Well,  in  spite  of  Boone's  escape  the  savages 
seem  to  have  retained  some  lingering  hope  that 
the  original  plan  would  be  followed.  They  hated 
to  give  Boone  up.  They  liked  him,  and  they  ad- 
mired him.  Even  though  appearances  were  now 
so  strongly  against  him,  they  were  loth  to  aban- 
don entirely  all  thought  of  keeping  him  as  one  of 
their  tribe. 

This  not  only  accounts  for  the  otherwise  unex- 
plained packhorses,  but  also  for  the  most  extraor- 
dinary delays  and  negotiations  that  preceded  the 
attack.  Boone,  as  will  be  seen,  made  the  most 
skilful  use  of  these  negotiations,  prolonging  the  de- 
lays as  much  as  possible.  He  had  promptly,  on  his 
arrival,  sent  messengers  to  the  settlements  for  re- 
enforcements,  and  every  moment  gained  was  an 
added  chance  for  the  safety  of  the  garrison. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        211 

Early  in  the  morning  of  September  7th  the  Indian 
forces  crossed  the  river  and  quietly  took  up  their 
positions  in  the  surrounding  woods  within  rifle  shot 
of  the  fort.  Their  advance  had  been  reported  by 
the  scouts,  so  the  garrison  was  prepared  and  within 
doors.  To  oppose  the  savage  horde  were  thirty 
men:  these,  with  the  women  and  boys,  were  to  make 
the  place  secure. 

There  was  no  attempt  at  concealment,  and  no 
hostile  demonstration.  The  Indian  elders  had  more 
than  a  strong  hope  that  the  place  could  be  captured 
without  a  fight.  They  were  very  fond  of  Boone j 
and  in  spite  of  his  desertion  they  knew  that  in- 
dividually he  was  very  fond  of  them,  and  that  his 
enmity  was  only  the  enmity  of  loyalty  to  his  own 
side.  They  had  carried  out  honourably  their  agree- 
ments made  when  the  salt-makers  had  surrendered  to 
them  the  year  before,  and  they  believed  that  on  that 
account  the  garrison  would  be  inclined  to  trust  any 
terms  they  might  make  now. 

The  forest  lay  as  though  empty,  still  and  hazy  in 
the  autumn  mists;  the  fort  stood  as  though  deserted, 
save  for  the  rising  of  smoke  from  the  rude  chimneys 
of  the  cabins.  Nevertheless,  hundreds  of  fierce 
black  eyes  from  the  shelter  of  the  leafy  underbrush 
were  scrutinizing  every  detail  of  the  log  fortress  and 
the  half -cleared  ground  that  lay  around  it;  and  within 


£12        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  defenses  eyes  were  at  the  portholes,  and  ears 
were  strained  to  catch  the  least  movement. 

Suddenly  the  bushes  parted  and  a  solitary  Indian, 
unarmed,  and  carrying  a  bit  of  white  on  a  stick,  ad- 
vanced with  composure  to  a  point  "within  easy 
calling  distance"  of  the  fort,  mounted  a  stump,  and 
uttered  the  usual  call  of  the  woodsman,  a  prolonged 
hall-o-o-o!  For  a  time  there  was  no  reply,  and  no 
signs  of  life  in  the  fort.  Boone  knew  too  well  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Indian  point  of  view  to  confess 
weakness  by  any  undue  eagerness,  haste,  or  excite- 
ment. After  a  sufficient  pause  had  elapsed  he  sent 
back  an  answering  hail. 

The  emissary  could  speak  English.  He  an- 
nounced merely  that  the  chiefs  desired  a  parley  to 
consider  messages  brought  from  Governor  Hamilton 
at  Detroit.  This  was  a  most  unusual  opening  for 
an  Indian  attack — customarily  the  first  intimation 
was  the  war  whoop  and  the  rattle  of  rifles — but 
Boone  was  delighted.  Negotiation  meant  delay; 
and  delay  meant  a  better  chance  for  the  arrival  of 
the  re  enforcements  from  Holston.  Consider  for 
yourself  the  problem  of  defense  that  confronted  him. 
The  total  length  of  the  walls  was  nearly  nine  hundred 
feet,  besides  which  there  were  the  four  corner  block- 
houses to  be  manned.  Boone  had  at  his  command 
thirty  riflemen,  with  an  addition  of  about  twenty 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        213 

boys.  Spread  out,  that  meant  only  one  man  to 
every  thirty  feet  to  be  defended.  The  enemy  out- 
numbered him  more  than  ten  to  one,  and  was  in  force 
enough  to  deliver  a  formidable  attack  on  all  four 
sides  at  once,  if  they  so  desired;  or  to  keep  up  a 
continuous  battle  by  relays,  night  and  day.  Most 
men  would  have  considered  the  job  hopeless,  and 
would  have  anticipated  being  overrun  at  the  first 
assault.  So  you  can  readily  understand  that  the 
leaders  snatched  at  every  chance  for  delay. 

After  a  suitable  and  dignified  silence  Boone  agreed 
finally  to  send  three  to  meet  three.  All  must  be 
unarmed,  and  the  meeting  must  take  place  beneath 
the  guns  of  the  fort.  Immediately  thereafter  ap- 
peared Blackfish,  the  military  leader;  Moluntha, 
the  "Shawanese  King"  so  often  mentioned  by  Boone 
during  his  captivity;  and  the  Frenchman,  De 
Quindre.  To  meet  them  went  Boone,  Callaway, 
and  W.  B.  Smith.  They  carried  with  them  only  a 
calumet,  or  ceremonial  tobacco  pipe,  and  a  piece  of 
white  cloth  on  a  ramrod. 

It  is  recorded  that  Boone  found  the  meeting  with 
Blackfish  and  Moluntha  "embarrassing  enough." 
Blackfish  had  made  him  a  member  of  his  family, 
and  Moluntha  had  treated  him  with  distinguished 
kindness:  to  which  must  be  added  that  a  real  affec- 
tion existed  between  them  all.     But  the  white  man 


214        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

felt  that  he  must  be  loyal  to  his  own,  and  the  Indians, 
in  spite  of  their  chagrin,  respected  him  for  it  and  ad- 
mired the  wiliness  of  his  stratagem;  for  that  was  an 
Indian  virtue.  One  source  of  heart-burning  was 
speedily  eliminated,  however.  Moluntha  sorrow- 
fully reproached  Boone  for  killing  his  son  "the  other 
day  over  the  Ohio";  but  Boone  energetically  denied 
any  knowledge  of  the  act.  The  letter  from  Hamil- 
ton was  then  passed  over  and  read.  It  contained 
terms  for  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  and  offered  such 
favourable  proposals  that  evidently  the  Indians 
thought  they  could  not  be  refused,  for  when  Boone 
had  finished  the  perusal  of  the  letter,  old  Blackfish 
patted  him  on  the  shoulder  in  a  neighbourly  fashion, 
saying: 

"I  have  come  to  take  the  people  away  easily.  I 
have  brought  along  forty  horses  for  the  old  folks, 
the  women,  and  the  children  to  ride." 

"That  is  thoughtful  of  my  father,"  replied  Boone, 
apparently  pleased.  "But  the  road  is  long.  It  is 
a  serious  thing  for  all  of  a  people  to  leave  their 
homes.  These  things  must  be  told  them,  and  pipes 
must  be  smoked  in  council.  Let  not  your  young 
men  or  ours  look  upon  the  tomahawk  nor  the  rifle. 
At  the  end  of  two  days  we  will  make  reply." 

To  this  proposal  the  three  enemy  emissaries  gave 
assent,  to  Boone's  great  though  secret  satisfaction. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        215 

Such  delay  had  been  beyond  his  most  ardent  hopes, 
and  it  was  due  solely  to  the  esteem  the  Indians  had 
conceived  for  the  great  Scout,  and  the  hope  that  in 
some  way  he  might  be  gained  to  their  cause.  After 
a  peaceful  and  friendly  stroll  and  conversation  be- 
fore the  silent  fort,  the  parties  separated. 

Inside  the  compound  the  entire  garrison  gathered 
about  the  returned  emissaries.  Boone  briefly  out- 
lined Hamilton's  proposals.  He  pointed  out  the 
odds  against  them,  and  the  difficulties  so  few  would 
encounter  in  trying  to  defend  so  large  a  place.  He 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  Indians  meant  to 
fulfil  the  terms  they  offered,  and  that  the  prob- 
abilities were  strong  that  the  garrison  would  arrive 
safely  in  the  Indian  country.  Re  enforcements  had 
been  sent  for,  but  the  time  of  their  arrival  was  un- 
certain; if,  indeed,  they  arrived  at  all.  Those  were 
the  facts. 

Somebody  asked  for  his  opinion. 

That  was  a  different  matter.  The  country  was  at 
war.  The  British  were  our  enemies.  Boonesbor- 
ough  was  a  fortress  of  the  new  republic.  To  accept 
Hamilton's  proposals  would  not  be  to  surrender  as 
prisoners  of  war;  it  would  be  to  desert  to  the  enemy! 
For  his  part  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  fight  honourably  for 
his  own  side  to  the  death.  There  were  elements  of 
hope   in   the   situation.     The   Holston   men   might 


216        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

come.  Did  they  hear  Blackfish's  statement  of  forty 
horses  for  the  old  folks  and  children?  That  number 
meant  that  they  thought  Boonesborough  more 
populous  than  was  the  fact.  The  weakness  of  the 
defenders  was  unknown  to  them.  If  they  realized 
that  but  fifty  rifles  at  most  were  available  for  de- 
fense, undoubtedly  they  would  carry  the  place  out 
of  hand;  but  the  Indian  habit  of  warfare  would  not 
countenance  a  frontal  attack  against  what  they 
thought  a  large  body  of  the  deadly  borderers.  If 
the  weakness  of  the  garrison  could  be  concealed: 
and  if  all  did  a  little  better  than  they  thought  was 
their  best,  and  if  each  kept  up  a  stout  heart,  there 
might  be  a  chance  of  winning  through. 

Whereupon,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  voted 
unanimously  to  reject  Hamilton's  terms;  and  at  once 
turned  to  on  the  last  details  of  preparations  for 
defense. 

Truth  to  tell,  no  one  had  the  greatest  confidence 
in  the  truce.  At  any  moment  hostile  demonstrations 
were  expected.  Therefore  everybody  was  surprised 
and  delighted  when  small  parties,  sent  experimentally 
to  the  springs,  were  not  molested.  All  the  water 
was  at  once  secured  that  could  possibly  be  obtained 
without  arousing  suspicion.  The  fort  had  its  usual 
reservoirs,  of  course;  but  all  the  calculations  of  the 
time  were  for  short  attacks,  lasting  at  most  a  day  or 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        217 

two,  and  Boone  rightly  foresaw  that  this  struggle, 
once  joined,  would  be  to  a  finish.  About  sundown, 
again  to  the  vast  astonishment  of  the  settlers,  the 
cows  and  other  live  stock  wandered  out  from  the 
forest  as  they  were  accustomed  to  do  every  evening. 
The  savages  had  not  molested  them;  and  the  settlers 
thankfully  gathered  them  in.  As  soon  as  it  was 
dark  enough  the  most  expert  at  concealment  were 
sent  out  into  the  fort  vegetable  garden  to  bring  in 
whatever  was  there  either  for  man  or  beast.  Within, 
everyone,  even  the  women  and  small  children,  was 
busy  cleaning  and  loading  rifles,  picking  flints, 
moulding  bullets,  preparing  defenses.  There  was 
intense  excitement  but  no  abatement  of  resolution. 
That  night  a  sentinel  stood  on  the  lookout  in  every 
blockhouse;  and  every  man  slept  at  his  station  with 
rifle  at  hand.  We  have  a  record  from  one  of  them  as 
to  how  literal  was  the  well-known  phrase,  "to  sleep 
on  your  arms." 

"I  had  my  powder  horn  and  shot  pouch  at  my 
side,"  he  writes,  "and  placed  the  butt  of  my  gun 
under  my  head.  Five  of  our  company  lay  on  the 
east  side  of  the  fire,  and  T.  and  myself  on  the  west. 
We  lay  on  our  left  sides  and  my  right  hand  hold  of 
my  gun." 

But  there  was  no  alarm.  The  Indians  honourably 
observed  the  truce.     No  more  was  heard  or  seen  of 


218        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

them  until  the  cool  of  evening  on  the  second  day, 
when  again  the  bushes  parted  and  the  two  chiefs 
and  the  Frenchman,  bearing  their  white  flag,  came 
confidently  forward  to  receive  a  reply  that  evidently 
they  were  certain  would  be  favourable  to  their  pro- 
posals. 

"The  garrison,"  said  Boone,  "has  determined  to 
defend  the  fort  while  a  man  is  living."  He  then 
went  on  briefly  to  thank  them  for  observing  the 
truce. 

The  Indians,  we  are  told,  were  deeply  "astonished, 
disappointed,  and  exasperated"  at  this  reply,  so 
different  from  what  they  had  confidently  expected; 
but  they  listened  with  their  customary  gravity,  and 
went  back  into  the  forest.  Up  to  this  point  their 
proposals  had  been  sincerely  made.  Now  they 
turned  to  enmity;  as  indeed  they  had  every  reason 
to  do  honourably.  And  as  what  we  now  call  treachery 
and  stratagem  were  a  legitimate  and  honest  means 
of  warfare,  used  without  reproach  by  both  sides 
alike,  and  indeed  already  employed  by  Boone,  we 
can  hardly  join  certain  indignant  writers  in  their 
horror  at  the  next  move.  It  was  a  game  of  wits, 
between  wily  and  experienced  players.  Boone  fought 
for  delay,  and  used  every  means  to  get  it;  the  Indians 
wanted  possession  of  the  stronghold  and  the  people 
in  it  without  a  fight.     From  one  point  of  view  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        219 

safety  of  Boonesborough  could  be  credited  to  an 
unknown  Kentucky  prisoner  captured  a  short  time 
before  by  the  Shawnees.  This  man,  when  questioned, 
had  informed  his  captors  that  the  fort  had  *' lately 
been  re  enforced  with  three  companies  each  of 
seventy  men."  Against  a  possible  two  hundred  and 
fifty  riflemen  the  savages  might  well  hesitate  to 
deliver  a  frontal  attack;  whereas  they  would  con- 
temptuously sweep  over  thirty.  And  the  conduct 
of  Boone  seemed  to  confirm  this  report  of  the  Ken- 
tucky prisoner. 

At  the  end  of  a  short  time,  instead  of  the  immediate 
assault  the  settlers  now  expected,  came  the  three 
emissaries  back  with  another  proposal.  This,  un- 
like the  first,  was  not  sincerely  intended,  and  was 
merely  a  means  that  was  hoped  to  be  effective  in 
getting  hold  of  the  leading  white  men,  and  perhaps 
of  the  garrison  itself.  This  time  De  Quindre  did 
the  talking  through  one  of  the  other  white  men  as 
interpreter. 

He  said  that  his  orders  from  Governor  Hamilton 
were  to  avoid  bloodshed  at  all  costs;  he  pointed  out 
in  corroboration  of  this  the  observance  of  the  truce, 
the  fact  that  the  cattle  had  been  allowed  to  enter 
the  stockade;  that  what  was  really  wanted  was  to 
remove  the  menace  of  Boonesborough  against  the 
British  in  the  northwest;  that  therefore  a  surrender 


£20        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

was  not  really  necessary.  What  was  wanted  was 
peace  on  the  border,  so  a  treaty  of  peace  signed  by 
the  leading  men  of  Boonesborough  would  be  suffi- 
cient; after  which  the  savages  would  withdraw.  He 
went  on  to  suggest  that  the  nine  leading  men  of  the 
garrison  should  meet  with  himself  and  the  Indians 
to  make  such  a  treaty. 

Boone,  of  course,  had  not  much  faith  in  this  pro- 
posal. It  might  be  the  policy  of  the  British,  but 
here  were  half  a  thousand  warriors  come  a  long  dis- 
tance on  a  warpath,  and  it  was  against  their  nature 
to  return  empty  handed.  Still  he  possessed  the 
confidence  of  Governor  Hamilton;  he  had  con- 
siderable influence  and  respect  among  the  Indians; 
no  one  knew  how  far  the  military  authority  of  the 
British  in  dictating  the  policy  of  such  an  expedition 
might  extend.  And  above  all  here  was  a  chance  for 
further  delay!  The  last  consideration  decided  him. 
He  agreed;  but  stipulated,  "as  it  was  now  so  late 
in  the  day,"  that  the  conference  should  not  take 
place  until  the  following  morning;  he  also  specified 
that  it  should  be  held  in  "the  hollow  at  the  Lick 
Spring,"  which  could  be  covered  by  rifle  fire  from 
the  nearest  bastion.     The  Indians  withdrew. 

At  once  Boone  began  to  lay  his  plans.  For  the 
peace  commissioners  he  selected  men  of  long  ex- 
perience  with   Indians,    and   also   of   strength   and 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        221 

agility.  Among  them  were  some  of  our  acquain- 
tance: Squire  Boone,  Richard  Callaway,  W.  B. 
Smith,  and  Flanders  Callaway  who  had  married 
Jemima  Boone.  For  the  bastion  he  designated  a 
number  of  the  best  rifle  shots,  whom  he  instructed 
to  open  fire  promptly  when  any  of  the  party  waved 
a  hat.  Since  to  reach  the  Lick  Spring  the  Indians 
must  file  by  the  fort,  Boone  ordered  every  human 
creature,  women  and  children,  white  or  black,  to 
costume  as  a  man  and  to  make  some  sort  of  a  show- 
ing at  the  pickets  as  though  looking  over  in  curiosity 
when  the  savages  passed.  "For  that  purpose," 
says  Ranck,  "every  old  hat  and  hunting  shirt  in 
the  station  was  gathered  up,  and  some  new  ones 
even  were  hastily  manufactured.  The  next  morn- 
ing when  Blackfish,  De  Quindre,  the  older  chiefs, 
interpreters  and  attendants  filed  down  to  the  meet- 
ing place  they  did  not  fail  to  note  the  large  numbers 
of  hatted  heads  that  bobbed  up  at  the  top  of  the 
stockade  to  see  them  pass,  and  were  disgusted  at 
the  apparent  confirmation  as  to  the  strength  of  the 
garrison." 

Boone  and  his  men  followed  them  unarmed,  and 
the  parties  came  together  under  the  huge  sycamores 
at  the  spring. 

Fortunately  for  Boone's  purpose  of  delay  Indians 
are  long  on  ceremonial  and  dignity,  and  love  much 


222        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

talk,  long  flowery  speeches,  and  due  deliberation. 
The  white  men  were  invited  to  seat  themselves  on 
panther  skins,  and  tobacco  and  whiskey  were  passed 
and  discussed.  Then  a  feast  was  brought  on.  It 
is  related  that  "the  besiegers  sought  with  suspicious 
generosity  to  beguile  the  'rebels'  with  eatables  and 
drinkables  from  the  British  commissary  department 
at  Detroit,  such  as  most  of  them  had  not  seen, 
much  less  tasted,  in  many  a  long  month."  Then 
they  proceeded  to  the  business  of  making  a  peace, 
which  was  a  very  formal  and  complicated  affair. 
The  calumet  was  passed,  and  the  sacred  drink 
called  cassena.  The  Indians  made  speeches,  em- 
phasizing the  points  by  delivering  belts  of  wam- 
pum, black  on  each  edge  and  white  in  the  middle. 
The  design  was  intended  to  express  peace,  and  that 
the  path  was  fair  and  open.  In  the  centre  of  these 
belts  was  the  figure  of  a  diamond,  representing  the 
council  fire.  The  orator  took  one  end  of  his  belt 
and  Boone  hel.d  the  other,  while  the  Indian  moved  his 
forefinger  down  the  rows  of  beads  as  he  made  his 
points.  The  braves  sitting  about  waved  ceremonial 
fans  of  eagle-  feathers.  You  may  be  sure  that 
Boone  and  his  companions  prolonged  this  pow-wow 
as  much  as  they  were  able.  It  was  sundown  before 
the  last  clause  was  agreed  upon.  This  gave  the 
garrison  another  night's  respite,  for  it  has  never 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        223 

been  the  Indian  custom  to  conclude  an  agreement 
the  same  day  it  was  made.  The  white  men  played 
their  points  well,  and  appeared  to  be  completely 
fooled.     De  Quindre  was  in  high  feather. 

The  commissioners  went  back  to  the  fort  with  the 
understanding  that  they  were  to  return  the  next 
morning  for  the  purpose  of  signing.  Both  parties 
were  insincere;  and  yet  each  hoped  the  other  might 
go  through  with  it.  From  the  settlers'  point  of 
view  it  was  worth  trying,  anyway;  and  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Frenchman  had  high  anticipations. 

Nevertheless,  that  night  a  strong  body  of  Indians 
sneaked  in  and  hid  in  the  woods  and  bushes  near  the 
hollow,  and  the  next  morning  when  Blackfish  led 
his  party  to  the  council  trees,  the  settlers  noted  that 
many  of  the  older  men  in  his  party  had  been  re- 
placed by  strong  young  warriors.  Boone  mentioned 
this  fact  a  little  sardonically;  but  Blackfish  looked 
him  in  the  eyes  and  coldly  declared  that  the  party 
had  not  been  changed.  The  Indians  had  come  in 
white  paint  with  swansdown  on  their  heads,  as 
though  for  genuine  peace.  After  some  more  delay 
the  "treaty"  was  signed.  Blackfish  said  that  it 
must  now  be  confirmed  by  the  representatives  of 
his  people  or  it  could  not  have  effect;  and  he  called 
upon  his  retinue  to  step  forward  to  shake  the  white 
men's  hands.     Now,  strangely  enough,  it  happened 


224        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

that  there  were  eighteen  men  in  Blackfish's  retinue, 
just  two  to  each  white  man,  and  at  this  they  stepped 
forward,  smiHng  affably,  and  seized  the  pioneers' 
hands.  One,  a  httle  too  eager,  grasped  too  tightly 
and  too  soon,  an,d  betrayed  the  purpose  by  a  move- 
ment toward  the  brush.  Here  showed  Boone's 
judgment  in  his  selection  of  his  men.  Old  at  Indian 
wiles,  suspicious  and  alert,  quick  and  strong,  expert 
at  wrestlers'  tricks,  they  tripped  their  would-be 
captors,  butted  them,  kicked  them,  wrenched  them- 
selves free  and  sprang  aside.  A  hat  waved  and 
instantly  from  the  bastion  came  the  answering  crack 
of  rifles. 

Boone  and  his  comrades  made  their  way  to  the 
fort  under  a  storm  of  bullets,  dodging  from  stump 
to  stump,  from  hollow  to  hollow,  from  one  hummock 
to  another.  So  hot  was  the  fire  that  one  man  had 
to  lie  out  behind  cover  until  the  fall  of  night  gave 
him  a  chance  to  leave  his  shelter.  But  if  he  was 
under  the  constant  menace  of  the  enemy,  he  was 
also  under  the  protecting  fire  of  his  friends,  and  he 
escaped  unscathed.  Squire  Boone  was  the  only 
unlucky  one.  He  received  a  bullet  in  the  left 
shoulder. 

But  once  the  gates  had  clanged  shut,  the  firing 
died.  The  anxious  listeners  within  the  fort  could 
hear  from  within  the  forest  the  sounds  of  a  great 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        225 

bustling  to  and  fro :  they  heard  horses  being  gathered 
in  and  loud  commands  that  indicated  the  loading 
and  packing  of  the  ponies.  Evidently  the  Shawnees 
were  disgusted  with  the  outcome  of  the  negotiations 
and  were  getting  ready  to  leave.  The  next  morning 
just  before  daybreak  the  enemy  noisily  withdrew. 
The  splashing  of  the  horses  could  be  heard  as  they 
crossed  the  river;  commands  could  again  be  clearly 
distinguished;  and  fainter  and  fainter  sounded  the 
calls  of  De  Quindre's  bugle  in  the  hills.  Some  of 
the  younger  men  within  the  fort  believed  the  trouble 
over,  and  wanted  to  open  the  gates  and  take  the 
cattle  forth,  but  Boone  only  laughed. 

"Gone.?"  he  answered  them,  "all  but  a  few  that 
took  the  horses  across  are  hidden  right  now  within 
a  hundred  yards.  And  most  of  those  with  the 
horses  are  back  by  now." 

"Why  are  you  so  sure.?"  demanded  one  of  the 
defenders,  struck  by  the  Scout's  certainty. 

"Too  much  noise,"  said  Boone;  "an  Indian  does 
not  make  noise.  Did  you  hear  the  commands.? 
They  were  too  loudly  given — so  we  could  hear." 

So  as  a  consequence  the  fort  remained  closed  and 
the  only  signs  of  life  were,  as  before,  the  slow  curling 
of  smoke  from  the  chimneys.  The  calm  lasted 
barely  an  hour.  Then  from  every  stump  and  bush 
and  tree  came  a  stream  of  bullets  from  the  im- 


226        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

patient  and  chagrined  savages,  who  were,  as  Boone 
had  stated,  concealed  everywhere  within  easy 
range.  The  siege  was  on  in  earnest.  Never  before 
had  ammunition  been  used  as  lavishly.  The  British 
had  issued  it  in  practically  unlimited  quantities  to 
their  new  savage  allies;  the  forty  packhorses  fur- 
nished plenty  of  transportation.  No  longer  did  the 
invading  party  have  to  husband  its  powder  and  lead, 
dependent  on  what  it  could  itself  carry.  A  fierce 
and  withering  fire  was  every  moment  directed  against 
every  loophole,  every  crack,  that  might  even  once  in 
a  thousand  times  let  a  bullet  through.  The  deep 
gorge  of  the  Kentucky  River  threw  back  the  echoes 
in  an  almost  continual  roll  of  thunder.  The  settlers 
had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  replying  to  this  con- 
tinuous leaden  hail,  for  even  a  momentary  ap- 
pearance at  a  porthole  was  attended  by  great  danger. 
Nevertheless,  they  managed  so  successfully  as  to 
hold  the  savages  within  the  fringe  of  woods.  No 
shot  was  wasted  by  these  cool  and  practised  men 
in  miscellaneous  firing.  They  had  to  see  a  mark 
before  they  pulled  trigger. 

But  that  very  first  day  a  sharp-eyed  youth  came 
to  Boone  with  the  information  that  a  muddy  streak 
had  just  begun  to  float  down  the  river  current; 
and  as  there  had  never  been  a  muddy  streak  there 
before,  he  thought  it  worth  reporting.     After  some 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        227 

exposure  and  a  great  deal  of  risk  Boone  caught  sight 
over  the  cliff  of  a  pole  moving  as  though  to  loosen 
dirt. 

"Some  of  the  Frenchman's  ideas,"  was  his  con- 
clusion. "No  Indian  would  have  thought  of  that. 
They  are  starting  a  tunnel  toward  us  and  throwing 
the  dirt  into  the  river.     They  intend  to  mine  us." 

It  was  necessary  to  determine  this  certainly,  as 
soon  as  possible.  Under  Boone's  direction  a  rough 
but  thick  and  bullet-proof  breastwork  or  watch 
tower  was  pushed  up,  log  by  log,  atop  the  block- 
house nearest  the  suspected  work.  From  it  the 
watchers  could  see  the  fresh  earth  as  it  was  cast 
into  the  stream.  The  watch  tower  was  strengthened, 
and  from  that  time  on,  day  and  night  it  was  occu- 
pied by  one  or  two  riflemen  who  watched  with 
ready  weapons  for  a  chance  at  this  new  danger. 

There  was  only  one  thing  to  do.  Just  inside  the 
walls,  opposite  the  projected  mine,  a  detail  was  set 
to  work  to  dig  a  deep  trench  which  should  cut  off 
the  underground  passage.  It  passed  through  sev- 
eral of  the  cabins  that  helped  form  the  wall  of  the 
fort,  and  was  about  three  feet  wide  and  of  great 
depth.  It  represented  incredible  labour  on  the  part 
of  men  already  wearied  by  their  turn  at  the  walls. 

There  was  not  a  moment's  respite,  day  or  night. 
Blackfish   divided   his   men  into   two   parties   who 


228        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

stood  watch  and  watch,  so  that  the  battle  was  con- 
tinuous. Within  the  fort  there  were  no  men  to 
spare,  so  twenty -four  hours  each  day  the  gaunt  and 
haggard  men  chmg  to  the  portholes,  snatching 
sleep  a  few  minutes  at  a  time.  Luckily  within  a 
day  or  so  a  spell  of  foggy,  drizzly  weather  set  in. 
As  the  summer  sun  had  beat  fiercely  down,  this 
was  very  grateful.  And  especially  was  it  provi- 
dential in  that  it  postponed  for  a  little  the  Indians' 
plans  for  burning  out  the  garrison. 

Everybody  within  the  fort  expected  that  this 
siege  would  be  like  every  other  Indian  siege  so  far 
known:  that  it  would  last  two  or  three  days  at  the 
very  most,  and  then  that  the  fickle  savages,  dis- 
couraged, would  withdraw.  But  day  succeeded 
day,  and  the  intensity  of  the  attack  did  not  flag. 
The  water  in  the  reservoirs  began  to  run  low;  and 
especially  were  the  cattle  in  danger  of  drought. 
The  strain  of  sleeplessness,  excitement,  and  the 
constant  alertness  began  to  tell.  Every  night 
through  the  trunks  of  the  forest  trees  could  be  seen 
the  gleams  of  the  campfires,  and  the  forms  of  the 
savages  off  duty  taking  their  rest  and  ease;  recuper- 
ating, while  their  comrades  held  the  attack,  for  an- 
other go  at  it.  Their  hunters  could  be  seen  returning 
with  game.  It  was  borne  in  upon  the  besieged  that 
here  at  last  was  a  serious  determination  to  stay  by 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        229 

until  the  job  was  finished,  and  Boonesborough, 
which  had  so  many  times  stood  in  the  way  of  savage 
and  of  royal  ambitions,  should  be  wiped  off  the  bor- 
der. The  sounds  of  digging  could  now  be  plainly 
heard;  and  while  Boone  ordered  the  earth  from  the 
countermine  to  be  thrown  ostentatiously  over  the 
palisades  to  show  that  the  project  was  understood, 
this  seemed  to  have  no  effect  in  discouraging  the 
savages.  The  latter  must  have  been  strongly  per- 
suaded by  De  Quindre  of  the  certainty  of  success, 
for  they  hate  manual  labour,  and  nobody  before  nor 
since  has  ever  succeeded  in  making  them  do  so  much 
digging.  The  trench  was  all  very  well,  but  the  most 
sickening  uncertainty  and  anxiety  held  everyone's 
mind.  It  might  be  possible  to  explode  a  quantity 
of  powder  outside  the  walls  to  create  a  breach;  or  it 
might  be  deflected  to  blow  in  the  postern  gate;  or  a 
dozen  other  contingencies  that  would  occur  to  men 
already  wearied  out  by  constant  battling. 

One  marksman  among  the  savages  caused  a  great 
deal  of  trouble.  He  was  possessed  of  a  good  rifle, 
and  he  had  gained  a  position  in  a  tree  with  limbs  so 
peculiarly  arranged  that  he  was  able  to  shoot  with 
the  smallest  and  briefest  exposure.  The  elevation 
permitted  him  to  fire  down  into  the  compound. 
Before  his  position  was  located  he  had  done  con- 
siderable damage,  hitting  one  or  two  people,  but 


230        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

especially  killing  the  cattle  huddled  in  the  centre. 
Among  the  people  he  hit  was  Jemima  Boone,  now 
Mrs.  Flanders  Callaway.  When  the  position  of 
this  marksman  was  finally  located,  Boone  himself 
ascended  to  the  tower.  He  had  not  long  to  wait. 
The  man  in  the  tree  prepared  himself  for  another 
shot,  and  in  so  doing  he  exposed  the  top  of  his  head. 
Boone  instantly  fired.  The  hidden  marksman,  struck 
squarely  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead,  fell  from 
the  tree  like  a  squirrel.  He  proved  to  be  Pompey, 
the  renegade  negro.  It  was  a  wonderful  shot,  near 
two  hundred  measured  yards. 

One  of  the  favourite  amusements  of  the  Indians 
for  the  moment  off  duty  was  to  gather  in  little 
groups  safely  out  of  range  and  jeer  at  and  insult  the 
garrison.  Colonel  Callaway,  who  was  then  get- 
ting pretty  old,  and  who  disapproved  thoroughly  of 
Boone's  "irregular"  methods  of  defense,  saw  here  a 
chance  to  do  something  according  to  the  approved 
rules  of  warfare.  So,  casting  back  in  his  knowledge 
of  history,  he  made  him  a  "cannon"  in  accordance 
with  the  earliest  tradition,  out  of  wood,  banded  to- 
gether with  strap  iron.  When  this  wonderful  con- 
trivance was  finished,  it  was  mounted  atop  a  block- 
house and  loaded  with  musket  balls.  Nobody  but 
the  worthy  colonel  had  any  faith  in  the  contraption; 
but  he  touched  it  off  boldly,  while  the  others  held 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        231 

back  at  a  safe  distance.  It  went  off  all  right,  with  a 
most  satisfactory  whang  and  whistle  of  the  bullets, 
and  an  awe-inspiring  cloud  of  white  smoke.  The 
Indians  uttered  yells  of  terror,  and  fairly  fell  over 
backwards  to  get  into  the  woods.  None  appeared 
again  in  sight  for  a  long  time;  and  when  they  did  it 
was  at  a  greatly  increased  range.  The  old  man 
turned  her  loose  again.  Once  more  the  noise;  once 
more  the  cloud  of  white  smoke;  but  when  the  latter 
cleared  away  it  was  found  that  the  noble  cannon  had 
wrecked  herself.  She  was  a  one-shot  gun.  The 
Indians  evidently  suspected  what  had  happened, 
for  they  repeatedly  dared  the  garrison  to  "shoot 
the  big  gun  again." 

Now  on  the  seventh  night  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Indians  the  defenders  were  subjected  to  the  grand 
assault  of  which  all  this  previous  fighting  had  been 
but  a  preparation  intended  to  wear  them  down. 
Suddenly  when,  it  is  reported,  "such  a  movement  was 
entirely  unexpected,"  the  Indians  succeeded  in 
lodging  fire-bundles  against  the  side  of  the  stockade 
and  in  shooting  blazing  arrows  to  the  roofs  of  the 
cabins  on  that  side  of  the  fort.  Immediately  they 
swept  the  place  with  bullets,  concentrating  in  such 
a  manner  that  no  human  being  attempting  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames  could  live  for  a  moment.  The 
arrowheads  had  been  wrapped  in  flax  looted  from 


232        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

one  of  the  outside  cabins,  and  with  the  inner  oily 
fibre  of  the  shell-bark  hickory,  and  therefore  they 
burned  fiercely.  For  the  first  time  the  lofty  spirits 
of  the  defenders  fell  to  despair.  The  water  supply 
was  so  nearly  exhausted  that  there  was  not  enough 
to  be  of  any  avail.  By  the  use  of  brooms,  themselves 
inflammable,  the  arrows  on  the  roofs  might  be  coped 
with;  though  even  then  at  the  greatest  risk;  but  there 
seemed  no  way  of  reaching  the  conflagration  against 
the  stockade.  The  flames  were  by  now  blazing 
high,  and  the  ruddy  light  was  reflecting  on  the  dis- 
tant trees  of  the  forest,  whence  the  pandemonium  of 
yells  and  savage  cries,  and  the  constant  rattle  and 
roar  of  the  firearms  assaulted  even  the  calm  and 
silent  cup  of  heaven.  The  white  men  did  what  they 
could.  A  young  fellow,  whose  name  I  have  not 
been  able  to  trace,  sprang  upon  the  roof  and  worked 
coolly  for  some  moments,  fully  exposed  to  a  con- 
centrated fire  by  the  enemy.  In  that  hail  of  bullets 
it  did  not  seem  possible  that  any  one  could  five  for 
even  the  fraction  of  a  second.  The  logs  were  shot  to 
splinters  about  his  feet,  his  clothes  were  pierced  in 
several  places,  but  he  was  untouched.  When  he 
had  finished  his  task  he  uttered  a  defiant  yell  and 
leaped  down.  His  preservation  appeared  to  be  a 
miracle,  and  greatly  impressed  the  superstitions  of 
the  savages. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        233 

But  in  the  meantime  the  stockade  itself  blazed 
merrily,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  about  it. 
The  fort  at  last  seemed  doomed,  and  the  blackest 
despair  seized  even  these  stout  hearts. 

So  busily  had  the  attack  and  defense  been  con- 
ducted; so  rapidly  had  exciting  and  absorbing  events 
followed  one  another;  so  brightly  had  the  flames 
burned;  that  neither  side  had  noticed  a  change  that 
had  slowly  been  taking  place  out  in  the  calm  spaces 
beyond  the  influence  of  these  fierce  passions.  The 
clear  brilliant  dome  of  heaven  had  veiled.  The 
aloof  stars  had  dimmed,  then  had  withdrawn  one  by 
one  until  the  arch  of  the  firmament  was  black.  A 
little  wind  had  sighed  through  the  forest,  a  wind 
from  the  south,  that  in  happier  times  would  have 
carried  with  it  the  scent  of  damp  things  and  the 
sound  of  croak-frogs.  The  night  drew  down  closer 
and  closer  above  the  treetops.  The  little  wind 
grew.  And  then  with  a  crash  and  a  flash,  as  though 
the  "big  gun"  had  again  spoken,  the  sudden  tor- 
rential thunderstorm  of  summer  hot  weather  broke. 
Instantly  the  roofs  began  to  stream.  The  brilliance 
of  the  fires  was  dimmed,  flickered,  died  to  dull  red- 
ness, went  out.  Complete  darkness  took  possession; 
and  shortly  complete  silence,  except  for  the  roar  of 
faUing  rain  and  the  tinkle  and  drip  of  running  water. 

The  discouraged  and  disgusted  Indians  withdrew 


234        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

for  the  moment.  Inside  the  fort  the  settlers,  with 
thanksgiving  in  their  hearts,  hastened  to  reassure 
their  damaged  defenses  and  to  catch  in  all  sorts  of 
vessels  as  much  as  possible  of  the  precious  fluid. 
"Boonesborough,"  as  Ranck  expresses  it,  "was 
saved  by  the  skin  of  its  teeth." 

From  this  time  forward  the  Indians  seemed  to  pin 
all  their  hopes  on  the  tunnel  they  were  digging. 
Their  persistency  in  the  hated  manual  labour  was 
remarkable.  On  their  side  the  settlers  continued 
to  beat  off  the  numerous  smaller  attacks,  to  reply 
to  the  continuous  fire,  and  to  attempt  to  the  best 
of  their  ability  to  dig  countermines  that  would  have 
at  least  a  chance  of  effectiveness.  The  tower  was 
always  occupied  by  the  best  marksmen  alert  to 
take  snap  shots  at  any  warrior  who  exposed  him- 
self on  his  way  to  or  from  the  tunnel  and  the  camp. 
These  men  were  old  hunters,  familiar  with  the  Shaw- 
nee language,  and  they  whiled  away  their  time  ban- 
tering with  their  enemies  with  what  Ranck  calls  a 
"curious  courtesy." 

"*What  are  you  red  rascals  doing  down  there.'^'" 
he  reports  an  old  hunter  as  shouting. 

"'Digging,'  would  be  the  return  yell,  *Blow  you 
all  to  the  devil  soon.     What  you  do?' 

"  *0h,'  would  be  the  cheerful  reply,  Ve  are  digging 
to  meet  you,  and  intend  to  bury  five  hundred  of  you'." 


He  loas  out  to  kill  in  his  madness;  yet  he  refused  to  permit 
the  torture  of  prisoners 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        235 

And  as  the  terrible  days  and  nights  succeeded  one 
another  hopes  faded  as  to  the  arrival  of  the  re  en- 
forcements. The  men  from  Holston  should  long 
since  have  arrived.  The  extending  delay  might 
well  mean  that  they  had  not  started,  might  not  be 
coming  at  all;  and  re  enforcement  seemed  the  only 
hope.  The  savages  had  unending  resources,  and 
for  once  unending  patience.  The  garrison  had 
dwindling  supplies,  dwindling  energies.  Sooner  or 
later  they  must  succumb.  At  this  exact  period 
Ranck  reports  their  condition  as  follows: 

"The  outlook  was  black  indeed.  It  was  raining, 
and  the  pent-up  people  could  slake  their  thirst,  but 
they  were  worn  out  by  the  labour,  the  heat,  and 
incessant  watching  and  by  privations,  for  the  long- 
drawn-out  provisions  were  about  exhausted,  and 
though  some  of  the  miserably  reduced  livestock  re- 
mained, the  pioneers  had  already  reached  the  star- 
vation point." 

The  tunnel  had  by  now  approached  so  close  to  the 
works  that  those  back  of  the  walls  could  distinctly 
hear  the  chck  of  the  implements.  It  was  very 
evident  that  the  time  was  at  hand  and  that  that 
very  night  the  culmination  would  be  reached. 
Nothing  remained  to  be  done.  In  uncertainty  and 
anxiety  the  harassed  and  weary  little  band  must 
wait  the  dark  hours  that  would  at  last  bring  the 


236        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

long-delayed  rush  of  the  enemy.  And  to  complete, 
as  they  thought,  the  tragic  circle  of  their  bad  luck, 
it  began  shortly  to  rain,  and  the  rain  increased  to  a 
storm.  "The  night  was  so  dark,"  says  Ranck, 
"that  the  keenest  watchers  had  no  chance,  except 
the  poor  one  the  flashes  of  lightning  gave,  to  detect 
an  advance  of  the  enemy  above  the  ground,  while 
the  tumult  of  the  pouring  rain  and  wind-swept  for- 
ests drowned  all  other  sounds  and  favoured  every 
movement  of  the  mining  force."  Nobody  could 
guess  the  form  the  attack  was  to  take;  though  all 
knew  it  would  come  off  that  night.  They  might 
blow  up  the  postern  gate  and  then  rush  in;  they 
might  penetrate  to  the  countermine  and  thus  gain 
entrance;  they  might  have  some  deeper  plan.  The 
men  and  women  and  children  could  only  wait 
through  the  slow  dark  hours  for  the  bloody  work 
to  begin.  At  every  loophole  stood  a  watcher,  the 
rain  streaming  from  his  bronzed  countenance,  strain- 
ing his  eyes  into  the  thick  darkness,  straining  his 
ears  against  the  roaring  storm;  seeing  nothing,  hear- 
ing nothing,  relaxing  only  for  brief  moments  to 
curse  deeply  and  fervently  the  fact  that  out  of  all 
the  days  of  the  year  this  one  should  have  brought  so 
fatal  a  tumult  of  the  elements. 

Slowly  the  hours  crept  by,  and  still  the  attack 
delayed.     The  exhausted  men  did  not  dare  leave  their 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        237 

posts  for  a  single  instant.  Midnight  passed.  One 
by  one  the  hours  of  the  early  morning  filed  by  on 
lagging  steps.  The  first  faint  streaks  of  dawn  showed 
in  the  east.  The  gray  daylight  came.  Incredulous 
the  defenders  stared  at  one  another.  Not  only  had 
there  been  no  assault  during  the  hours  most  favour- 
able, but  for  the  first  time  in  the  long  siege  the  rifle 
fire  had  ceased.  The  men  at  the  loopholes  reported 
the  whole  force  of  savages  in  leisurely  retreat. 

This  was  an  old  stratagem  and  nobody  was  de- 
ceived. But  shortly  across  the  stump-dotted  no- 
man's  land  two  figures  could  be  discerned  approach- 
ing. The  figures  were  soon  identified  as  Simon 
Kenton  and  Montgomery  who,  as  you  remember, 
had  stayed  behind  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country 
for  the  purpose  of  steahng  horses  or  "getting  a  shot 
or  so."  For  the  past  week  they  had  been  hovering 
back  of  the  Indian  forces  awaiting  a  chance  to  slip 
through.  Now  they  brought  the  astounding  news 
that  the  besiegers  were  in  truth  withdrawing.  It 
seemed  incredible;  but  it  was  true. 

On  investigation,  however,  the  cause  was  ap- 
parent. A  great  quantity  of  faggots,  kindling,  and 
heavier  fuel  had  been  accumulated,  which  was  to 
have  been  used  by  means  of  the  tunnel  approach  to 
pile  up  against  the  stockade.  Success  at  the  first 
attempt  with  fire  had  come  so  close  that  we  cannot 


238        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

wonder  the  savages  had  every  confidence  that  this 
more  careful  plan  could  not  fail.  But  the  heavy 
rainstorm,  which  the  defenders  had  so  vigorously 
and  mistakenly  cursed,  had  wet  everything  down  so 
thoroughly  that  fire  was  out  of  the  question.  That 
would  not  have  mattered:  it  would  have  meant 
merely  a  postponement;  but  the  rain  had  even  further 
fulfilled  its  role  under  Providence.  By  now  the 
ground  had  become  pretty  thoroughly  soaked. 
This  last  torrential  downpour  had  finished  the 
softening  of  the  earth,  and  the  tunnel  had  caved  in! 
Such  a  catastrophe  was  too  much  for  the  patience 
of  the  Indians,  already  strained  to  the  breaking 
point.  Do  what  De  Quindre  and  the  other  white 
men  could,  they  were  unable  to  overcome  the  re- 
action of  a  fierce  disgust.  Every  plan  they  had 
made  had  gone  wrong.  At  every  juncture,  it 
seemed,  an  especial  miracle  had  saved  the  fort. 
Even  the  fact  that  the  young  hero  who  had  worked 
among  the  blazing  arrows  on  the  roofs  had  not  been 
hit  by  at  least  one  of  the  hail  of  bullets  that  sang 
around  him  seemed  to  them  a  mark  of  especial 
protection  by  the  Great  Spirit.  But  when  the  re- 
sult of  so  much  and  such  unaccustomed  manual 
labour  was  destroyed  in  an  instant,  they  just  suffered 
a  revulsion  of  feeling  and  quit  in  disgust. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  first  thing  that  occurred  after  the  raising 
of  the  siege  was  a  regrettable  act  of  preju- 
dice. Old  Colonel  Callaway  had  throughout 
the  conduct  of  the  defense  resented  the  fact  that 
Boone  and  not  himself  was  at  the  head  of  affairs. 
Boone  had  not  the  military  rank,  and  by  strict 
military  etiquette  he  probably  was  not  in  command. 
The  settlers,  however,  insisted  that  he  should  lead 
them;  and  their  confidence  in  his  ability  was  jus- 
tified. But  the  Colonel  resented  it:  and  immediately 
the  Indians  departed  he  insisted  on  preferring  court- 
martial  charges  against  Boone,  accusing  him,  among 
other  things,  of  treachery  in  attempting  negotiations 
at  all.  Nothing  could  dissuade  him  from  this  fool- 
ish step,  so  Boone  appeared.  He  was  promptly  ac- 
quitted of  all  charges,  and  the  formal  title  and  rank 
of  major  was  conferred  upon  him  so  that  there  could 
be  no  similar  trouble  in  the  future. 

About  a  week  later  the  Holston  men,  the  long- 
expected  reenforcements,  arrived,  and  Boone  felt 
that  at  last  he  could  rejoin  his  family.  The  enemy 
was  defeated.     Indeed   for   a   time  after   this   the 

239 


240        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

white  men  kept  them  very  busy  in  their  own  coun- 
try by  small  expeditions.  The  guides  on  these 
expeditions  were  Boone's  salt-makers,  most  of  whom 
had  by  now  been  ransomed  or  exchanged  from 
British  captivity,  and  who  of  course  knew  the 
country  well. 

"Never,"  says  Boone  himself,  "did  the  Indians 
pursue  so  disastrous  a  policy  as  when  they  captured 
me  and  my  salt  boilers,  and  taught  us,  what  we  did 
not  know  before,  the  way  to  their  towns  and  the 
geography  of  their  country;  for  though  at  first  our 
captivity  was  considered  a  great  calamity  to  Ken- 
tucky, it  resulted  in  the  most  signal  benefits  to  the 
country." 

He  found  his  wife  and  children  again  settled  in  a 
small  log  cabin  in  the  country  of  the  Yadkin.  His 
appearance  was  the  first  intimation  they  had  that 
he  was  not  dead;  and  you  can  imagine  the  rejoicing, 
and  that  for  a  little  period  even  the  great  Scout  was 
content  to  settle  down  in  peace. 

But  soon  his  restless  spirit  stirred  again.  The 
enactment  of  new  land  laws  had  stimulated  a  great 
tide  of  migration  over  the  Wilderness  Road.  George 
Rogers  Clark  had  captured  Kaskaskia  and  Vin- 
cennes;  Colonel  Bowman  had  raided  into  the  Indian 
country  even  as  far  as  Chillicothe,  and,  while  beaten 
off,  had  nevertheless  sensibly  abated  the  Indians' 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        241 

thirst  for  foreign  raids.  In  this  fight  the  chief, 
Blackfish,  was  killed.  The  Indian  danger,  while  al- 
ways present,  was  not  as  great.  Robinson,  of  Ken- 
tucky, gives  us  a  vivid  picture: 

"Through  privations  incredible  and  perils  thick 
thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  came  in 
successive  caravans,  forming  continuous  streams  of 
human  beings,  horses,  cattle,  and  other  domestic 
animals,  all  moving  onward  along  a  lonely  and  house- 
less path  to  a  wild  and  cheerless  land.  Behold  the 
men  on  foot  with  their  trusty  guns  on  their  shoulders, 
driving  stock  and  leading  packhorses,  and  the 
women,  some  walking  with  pails  on  their  heads, 
others  riding  with  children  in  their  laps,  and  other 
children  swung  in  baskets  on  horses  fastened  to  the 
tails  of  others  going  before;  see  them  encamped  at 
night  expecting  to  be  massacred  by  Indians;  behold 
them  in  the  mouth  of  December  in  that  ever-mem- 
orable season  of  unprecedented  cold  called  the  *hard 
winter,'  travelling  two  or  three  miles  a  day,  fre- 
quently in  danger  of  being  frozen,  or  killed  by  the  fall- 
ing horses  on  the  icy  and  almost  impassable  trace." 

Boone  could  not  long  stand  inaction.  In  October 
he  returned  with  his  family  to  Boonesborough,  at 
the  head  of  a  band  of  neighbours;  and  it  is  note- 
worthy that  he  had  with  him  two  small  cannon, 
the  first  to  be  taken  into  the  country.     It  is  also 


242        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

noteworthy  that  one  of  his  comrades  was  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  grandfather  of  the  great  President. 
The  Boones  and  the  Lincolns  had  always  been  close 
friends — indeed  had  intermarried —  and  now  the 
Lincolns  were  following  the  Hunter's  advice  and 
moving  to  the  new  land.     This  was  in  1780. 

And  1780  was  known  as  the  Hard  Winter.  For 
seventy-five  years  after,  it  is  said,  men  counted  time 
from  it.  It  will  be  recalled  that  this  was  the  year 
that  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution,  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  suffered  so  severely.  The  autumn  was  es- 
pecially late  and  mild,  but  the  middle  of  November 
brought  a  cold  snap  that  lasted  without  interruption 
for  months.  The  snow  was  extraordinarily  deep, 
and  heavy  winds  drifted  it.  Immigrant  wagons 
were  stalled  and  held  until  the  spring  thaws.  The 
streams  were  solid.  The  snow  on  the  ground  was 
crusted,  the  trees  were  as  though  made  of  glass,  the 
firewood  had  to  be  chopped  from  blocks  of  ice.  The 
very  animals  perished  of  the  extreme  cold;  cattle 
and  hogs  around  the  station,  and  even  bears,  buffalo, 
wolves,  and  wild  turkeys  were  found  frozen  in  the 
woods.  Sometimes  the  starving  wild  animals  would 
come  up  to  the  very  gates  of  the  fort,  accompanying 
the  domestic  cattle. 

This  was  bad  enough,  but  in  addition  the  settlers 
themselves  were  very  hard  up  for  food.      During 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        243 

Boone's  absence  the  Indian  troubles  had  gone 
on.  Colonel  Bowman  had  made  an  incursion  into 
the  Indian  country  and  suffered  defeat.  George 
Rogers  Clark  had  had  better  luck,  and  had  burned 
the  Indian  towns  of  Chillicothe  and  Piqua  after  a 
sharp  battle.  On  the  other  side  a  British  officer. 
Colonel  Byrd,  at  the  head  of  a  large  force  and 
equipped  with  two  small  cannon,  had  started  into 
Kentucky.  The  wooden  forts  could  not  stand 
against  ordnance  of  that  sort.  Two  of  the  lesser 
stockades  were  taken  and  their  inhabitants  mas- 
sacred or  carried  off  into  captivity.  Fortunately 
for  the  rest  of  the  Kentucky  strongholds  Byrd 
could  not  control  the  savages,  who  scattered  to  their 
villages  intent  on  reaping  the  glory  of  this  success. 
And  all  summer  long  smaller  raiding  parties  on  both 
sides  were  slipping  back  and  forth  across  the  border, 
inflicting  what  damage  they  could.  At  Boones- 
borough  Colonel  Callaway  and  a  number  of  others 
were  killed  within  rifle  shot  of  the  wafls.  Every- 
where the  Indians  penetrated,  they  had  indus- 
triously destroyed  the  crops;  so  that  at  the  end  of 
summer  little  corn  was  harvested.  So  in  addition 
to  the  severity  of  the  weather  we  see  these  people 
facing  starvation  as  well.  "Such  was  the  scarcity 
of  food,"  Bogart  tells  us,  "that  a  single  johnny-cake 
would  be  divided  into  a  dozen  parts,  and  distributed 


244        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

around  to  the  inmates  to  serve  for  two  meals.  Sixty 
dollars  a  bushel  was  given  for  corn."  The  people 
lived  largely  on  wild  game,  which  was  lean,  poor,  and 
unpalatable.  Boone  and  Harrod  hunted  all  winter 
in  the  severest  of  the  w^eather,  making  long  trips 
into  the  wilderness.  The  only  gleam  of  comfort 
in  the  whole  situation  was  that  the  cold  kept  the 
savages  at  home. 

The  winter  was  further  saddened  for  the  Boones  by 
a  tragedy  that  had  occurred  in  October.  Daniel 
and  his  brother  Edward  went  hunting  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  Blue  Licks.  On  the  return  journey 
they  were  ambushed  in  the  thick  forest.  At  the 
crack  of  their  rifles  Edward  fell  dead;  but  Daniel, 
seeming  still  to  have  a  charmed  life,  shot  the  savage 
who  had  killed  his  brother,  and  leaped  aside  into  the 
underbrush  untouched.  The  savages  yelled  and 
rushed  forward.  The  momentary  delay  while  they 
scalped  the  younger  Boone  gave  the  elder  his  needed 
start.  Stopping  only  once  to  reload  and  shoot  an- 
other pursuer,  he  ran  for  three  miles,  twisting  and 
doubling  in  the  dense  and  tangled  wilderness;  by 
which  time  the  Scout,  with  his  usual  display  of 
woodcraft  and  endurance,  had  succeeded  in  shaking 
off  all  his  human  foes.  But  the  Indians  possessed 
a  "smell-hound,"  as  the  quaint  old  diction  has  it; 
and  the  animal  followed  inexorably  on  the  white 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        M5 

man's  trail.  Finally,  the  Scout  was  forced  in  his 
turn  to  ambush  the  dog,  when  his  never-erring  rifle 
did  the  rest.  But  few  of  his  many  losses  and  mis- 
fortunes seem  to  have  hit  the  Pioneer  as  did  this. 
It  struck  as  close  to  his  heart  as  had  even  the  death 
of  his  son,  and  yet  we  see  his  philosophy  unruffled; 
and  his  simple  justice  toward  all  men,  both  white 
and  red,  unembittered. 

Nor  were  these  misfortunes  more  than  begun. 
After  Virginia  had  declared  the  proceedings  of 
Judge  Henderson's  land  company  null  and  void  it 
naturally  followed  that  the  titles  to  the  land  he 
had  given  were  not  worth  anything.  The  colony 
made  laws  by  which  it  was  intended  that  the  original 
settlers  would  be  able  to  repurchase  the  same  land, 
and  so  get  clear  title.  Unfortunately,  the  drafting 
of  those  laws  was  in  the  hands  of  lawyers,  and  they 
made  the  process  so  complicated,  tied  it  up  with  so 
much  red  tape,  and  required  so  many  different  steps 
in  what  should  have  been  a  simple  matter  that  even 
to-day  the  mere  reading  of  them  over  makes  your 
head  reel.  You  can  imagine  the  effect  they  would 
have  had  on  rough  and  illiterate  frontiersmen. 
They  could  make  neither  head  nor  tail  of  it  all,  and 
in  their  attempts  to  fulfil  the  law's  requirements 
they  naturally  made  mistakes.  Of  these  technical 
mistakes  sharpers  took    advantage,  so  that  it  is  a 


246        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

fact  that  in  most  instances  the  men  who  had  pion- 
eered and  fought  for  this  land  in  the  end  found  them- 
selves without  an  acre  of  it. 

But  this  spring,  the  first  year  the  new  law  was 
in  effect,  several  of  the  settlers  raised  about  twenty 
thousand  dollars  and  sent  Boone  out  to  Richmond  to 
act  as  agent  for  them.  With  this  he  took  every 
dollar  he  could  raise  of  his  own.  In  some  manner 
that  is  not  recorded  he  was  robbed.  The  sympathy 
for  the  honest  pioneer  was  almost  universal,  so  that 
the  Legislature  of  Virginia  promptly  voted  him  a 
thousand  acres  of  land  free  of  charge,  but  there  were 
not  lacking  the  usual  evil  minds  that  whispered 
carelessness  or  actual  dishonesty.  This  drew  from 
the  very  men  who  had  entrusted  him  with  their 
money,  and  who  had  lost  all  of  it,  a  tribute  so  fine 
that  it  is  worth  quoting  here.  It  is  an  extract  from 
a  letter  by  Thomas  Hart,  the  principal  loser: 

"I  observe  what  you  say  respecting  our  losses  by 
Daniel  Boone.  I  heard  of  the  misfortune  soon  after 
it  happened,  but  not  of  my  being  a  partaker  before 
now.  I  feel  for  the  poor  people,  who,  perhaps,  are 
to  lose  even  their  preemptions,  but  I  must  say  I  feel 
more  for  Boone.  Much  degenerated  must  the  people 
of  this  age  be,  when  amongst  them  are  to  be  found 
men  to  censure  and  blast  the  reputation  of  a  person 
so  just  and  upright,  and  in  whose  breast  is  a  seat  of 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        247 

virtue  too  pure  to  admit  of  a  thought  so  base  and 
dishonourable.  I  have  known  Boone  in  time  of  old, 
when  poverty  and  distress  had  him  fast  by  the  hand; 
and  in  those  wretched  circumstances  I  have  ever 
found  him  of  a  noble  and  generous  soul,  despising 
everything  mean;  and,  therefore,  I  will  freely  grant 
him  a  discharge  for  whatever  sums  of  mine  he  might 
have  been  possessed  of  at  the  time." 

While  Boone  was  in  Richmond  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  call  upon  Hamilton  who  had  been  the 
Governor  at  Detroit  during  Boone's  captivity,  and 
who  had  there  showed  him  such  kindness.  Now 
Hamilton  was  himself  a  prisoner,  having  been  cap- 
tured at  Vincennes  by  George  Rogers  Clark. 

The  next  two  years  were  full  of  varied  excitement. 
Boone  went  to  Richmond  as  a  legislator.  There  he 
was  captured,  with  others,  by  Tarleton;  but  was 
paroled  after  a  few  days.  The  conditions  of  the 
parole  probably  prevented  his  serving  again,  for  he 
returned  to  Kentucky,  after  visiting  his  friends  and 
relatives  in  Pennsylvania.  On  his  return  to  Boones- 
borough  he  moved  his  family  to  a  point  about  five 
miles  away.  There  he  put  up  a  stockade  of  his  own. 
The  place  was  called  Boone's  Station  and  there  he 
took  up  his  abode,  making  again  a  home  in  the 
wilderness. 


CHAPTER  XVni 

THE  darkest  and  bloodiest  years  of  Ken- 
tucky's history  were  now  to  follow.  The 
earliest  pioneers  had  maintained  themselves, 
as  we  have  seen,  against  tremendous  odds,  but  never 
against  a  skilfully  led  concerted  movement.  The 
new  immigrants  had  built  themselves  stockades  here 
and  there,  and  had  established  a  rough  sort  of 
militia  organization  for  mutual  aid.  Boone  re- 
ceived the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

At  Detroit,  on  the  other  hand,  the  British  used 
their  utmost  influence  to  arouse  the  Indians.  By 
means  of  promises,  gifts  and  warnings  as  to  the  con- 
stantly rising  tide  of  white  immigration  they  called 
in  the  most  distant  tribes  to  the  warpath.  The 
hope  they  offered  was  based  on  prospects  of  success 
under  a  new  policy  of  concerted  action  and  no 
quarter  given.  They  were  the  more  excited  to 
effort  by  the  fact  that  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  the 
tide  of  war  had  at  last  turned.  The  battles  of 
King's  Mountain  and  the  Cowpens  had  been  fought, 
and  Yorktown  was  not  long  to  wait.  Now,  if  ever, 
the  British  must  strike  decisively,  if  they  hoped  to 

248 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        249 

retain  any  of  the  rich  domain  of  the  West.  And 
Hke  desperate  men  they  used  desperate  means.  It 
is  a  blot  on  history,  and  gave  birth  to  a  slow-dying 
hatred.  The  Indians  took  the  warpath  every- 
where; often  led  by  white  men  more  savage  than 
themselves,  such  men  as  the  Girtys  and  McKee, 
renegades  from  their  own  side,  filled  with  hatred  of 
their  kind,  and  inspired  by  a  relentless  cruelty  that 
had  not  even  the  Indian  code  of  custom  and  honour 
to  restrain  it.  Once  more  all  the  border  was  aflame, 
and  the  annals  of  the  time  are  filled  with  raids, 
burnings,  massacres,  tortures,  and  captivities;  with 
heroic  defenses  against  odds;  with  hairbreadth  es- 
capes; with  stratagem  and  bravery.  At  that  not 
one  tenth  was  ever  told.  The  people  were  too  busy 
with  their  bitter  and  desperate  conflict  for  a  foothold, 
for  very  existence,  to  have  left  any  record  of  a  heroism 
that  became  almost  a  daily  commonplace  to  them. 
For  the  land  hunger  had  bitten  the  vitals  of  the 
people,  and  in  face  of  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare 
they  were  still  pouring  in. 

They  came  over  the  Wilderness  Road  in  hundreds. 
They  floated  in  even  greater  numbers  in  flat  boats 
down  the  Ohio.  These  flat  boats  were  huge  affairs, 
scow  built,  from  twenty  to  sixty  feet  in  length, 
broad  of  beam,  unbelievably  clumsy.  The  people 
embarked  on  them  with  all  their  goods,  including 


250        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

their  horses  and  domestic  animals.  As  the  demand 
greatly  exceeded  the  supply,  these  craft  were  always 
crowded  fully  to  the  danger  point,  and  away  beyond 
the  comfort  point.  They  were  handled  by  long 
sweeps,  and  must,  of  course,  drift  with  the  current. 
The  whole  duration  of  the  voyage  must  be  spent  on 
board,  for  the  banks  of  the  river  were  always  oc- 
cupied by  savages,  following  like  vultures  the  slow 
progress  of  the  flotilla,  awaiting  eagerly  an  oppor- 
tunity for  successful  attack.  If  one  of  these  scows 
swung  in  too  close  to  either  bank,  if  it  lagged  behind 
or  ran  ahead  of  its  convoy,  if  it  deviated  for  an  in- 
stant from  the  narrow  strip  of  mid-stream  safety,  it 
was  fired  at,  pounced  upon,  its  occupants  mas- 
sacred without  mercy.  The  published  accounts  of 
such  instances  would  fill  many  volumes  the  size  of 
this. 

It  was,  on  the  whole,  good  scalp-hunting  for  the 
Indians,  never  better.  While  many  of  these  new- 
comers to  the  country  were  a  hard-bitten,  wary,  ex- 
perienced lot  and  could  take  care  of  themselves  with 
the  best,  and  while  others  employed  old-time  bor- 
derers to  act  as  guides,  a  very  large  number  had 
little  or  no  experience  with  Indians.  These  often 
fell  an  easy  prey. 

Possibly  the  fact  that  scalp-hunting  was  so  good 
went  far  toward  preventing  large  concerted  actions. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        251 

The  Indians  would  rather  roam  about  in  small 
parties,  ambushing,  killing  and  scalping;  making 
isolated  attacks  on  outlying  cabins  and  small  settle- 
ments, than  gather  in  big  formal  armies  for  con- 
sidered invasions.  Indeed,  it  is  recorded  that  in  the 
summer  of  1781  McKee,  Brant,  and  a  number  of  other 
British  leaders  and  Indian  chiefs  assembled  an  army 
of  over  a  thousand  braves  for  the  purpose  of  opposing 
George  Rogers  Clark.  Brant  went  off  on  a  scout 
with  about  a  hundred  warriors  and  destroyed  a 
party  of  white  men  utterly.  The  Indians  were 
vastly  pleased  at  this,  and  immediately  wanted  to 
quit  the  whole  expedition  and  go  home  to  brag 
about  it.  Then  they  heard  that  Clark  had  aban- 
doned his  project.  The  rumour  was  enough.  In 
spite  of  the  commanders'  best  efforts  the  Indians 
began  at  once  to  disband,  some  returning  to  their 
villages  to  celebrate  their  little  victory,  the  rest 
scattering  in  all  directions  to  do  the  individual  raid- 
ing they  loved.     So  that  expedition  dissolved. 

In  this  manner,  though  the  warfare  was  con- 
tinuous, and  very  deadly,  it  was  more  a  series  of  in- 
dividual combats  and  skirmishes  than  a  settled  cam- 
paign. For  that  reason  the  exciting  stories  of  the 
time  are  almost  without  number.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  tell  a  hundredth  part  of  them;  but  here 
are  a  few  samples,  very  briefly  related.     They  are 


252        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

not  especially  noteworthy,  as  compared  to  the 
others. 

At  a  small  fort  called  Estill's  Station  twenty-five 
Indians  by  a  sudden  dash  killed  and  scalped  a  young 
woman  and  carried  off  a  negro  slave.  Estill  and 
seventeen  men  at  once  rode  in  pursuit.  They  caught 
up  with  the  marauders,  who  proved  to  be  Wyandots, 
and  at  once  engaged  them.  For  two  hours  the 
fight  lasted,  the  Indians  refusing  to  give  ground, 
and  for  some  reason  fighting  stubbornly  on  in  the 
face  of  heavy  loss.  At  the  end  of  that  time  there 
remained  only  six  Indians  and  two  white  men! 
These  withdrew  by  common  consent. 

At  the  "crab  orchard"  a  woman,  her  children,  and 
one  negro  happened  to  be  alone  in  a  cabin  while  the 
men  were  absent.  Suddenly  the  door  opened  and  a 
painted  warrior  slipped  in.  With  the  instant  pres- 
ence of  mind  of  frontier  children,  the  youngsters 
slammed  and  bolted  the  door  behind  him  before 
others  could  enter.  The  woman,  in  a  desperate 
fury,  attacked  the  warrior  with  an  axe  and  actually 
cut  his  head  from  his  shoulders!  After  that  the 
little  garrison  made  so  brave  a  defense  that  the 
raiding  party  withdrew. 

In  the  Wyandot  nation  were  seven  warriors  who 
hunted  and  made  war  together  as  a  band.  Four  of 
them  were  brothers,  and  all  of  them  were  men  of 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        253 

great  stature  and  strength.  They  had  made  num- 
berless raids  into  white  territory,  and  had  gradually 
become  known  and  dreaded.  Now  in  a  settlement 
near  the  scene  of  one  of  these  raids  lived  two  brothers, 
Adam  and  Andrew  Poe,  equally  famed  for  strength 
and  skill;  and  they  were  two  of  the  eight  white 
men  who  took  the  Wyandots'  trail.  The  pursuers, 
helped  by  the  moon,  managed  to  follow  at  night; 
and  so  by  the  following  morning  found  themselves 
near  the  enemy.  Andrew  Poe  thereupon  turned 
off  at  a  stream,  intending  to  sneak  up  the  bed  and 
so  get  in  the  rear  of  the  Indians.  As  he  neared  the 
stream  he  heard  something;  and  creeping  up  cau- 
tiously he  found  himself  looking  down  on  two  Indians 
whispering  together.  One  of  them  Andrew  recog- 
nized by  his  truly  gigantic  stature  and  bulk  to  be 
Bigfoot,  the  most  renowned  of  the  fighters.  Andrew 
aimed  at  this  chief;  but  his  rifle  missed  fire.  Before 
the  startled  Indians  could  move,  Andrew  leaped  down 
on  them  from  above.  He  landed  on  Bigfoot  and 
knocked  him  down,  and  at  the  same  movement  got 
his  arm  around  the  smaller  Indian's  neck,  so  that  all 
three  of  them  rolled  on  the  ground.  For  a  moment 
or  so  Andrew  managed  to  pin  them  down,  but  before 
he  could  get  hold  of  his  knife  Bigfoot  wrapped  his 
arms  tightly  about  him  and  shouted  to  the  other 
Indian  to  run  for  his  tomahawk,  which  had  been 


254        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

spilled  on  the  shore  a  few  feet  away.  Andrew  im- 
mediately discovered  that  the  chief  was  too  power- 
ful for  him,  so  he  ceased  to  struggle;  but  he  kept  his 
eye  on  the  other  Indian,  and  as  the  latter  ran  up 
with  the  tomahawk  Andrew  kicked  him  so  hard  in 
the  chest  as  to  knock  the  tomahawk  out  of  his  hand 
and  send  him  staggering.  He  recovered  immediately 
both  his  health  and  his  tomahawk  and  again  ap- 
proached. This  time  he  struck,  but  Andrew  wriggled 
enough  to  take  the  blow  on  his  arm  instead  of  his 
head.  The  wound  was  a  deep  one,  but  it  did  not 
appear  to  disable  him.  He  put  forth  all  his  strength 
and  wrenched  himself  free.  With  the  agility  of  a 
panther  he  sprang  to  where  a  loaded  rifle  lay  on  the 
sand,  snatched  it  up,  and  shot  the  smaller  Indian: 
but  was  immediately  seized  again  by  the  giant  and 
hauled  to  the  ground.  Instantly  the  two  were 
locked  together  in  a  furious  hand-to-hand  struggle. 
They  had  no  weapons,  as  each  had  lost  both  his 
knife  and  tomahawk.  Andrew  was  the  smaller 
man,  but  he  had  great  skill  in  wrestling  and  boxing 
so  the  contest  was  now  not  so  uneven  as  it  looked. 
Over  and  over  they  fought  on  the  sands  of  the  shore, 
sometimes  one  on  top,  sometimes  the  other,  until  they 
rolled  into  the  river.  Andrew  caught  the  chief  by  the 
scalp  lock  and  held  him  under  water.  Fainter  grew 
his  struggles;  at  last  they  ceased.     Andrew  relaxed 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        ^55 

his  hold.  Instantly  the  Indian  was  on  his  feet  and 
rushing  on  his  enemy.  He  had  been  pretending  dead, 
''playing  possum."  The  enemies  floundered  into 
deep  water,  and  there  they  drew  apart  and  struck  out 
for  the  shore.  Here  the  Indian  excelled,  and  Andrew 
was  outdistanced.  The  chief  struck  shallow  water  and 
ran  up  the  sands  to  seize  the  rifle.  Andrew^  at  once 
turned  to  swim  out  into  the  stream,  keeping  an  eye  on 
the  chief,  and  hoping  to  escape  the  shot  by  diving. 
While  Andrew  Poe  was  in  all  this  various  tribu- 
lation, his  brother  and  the  other  six  white  men 
had  run  across  the  rest  of  the  Indians.  They  dis- 
covered each  other  at  the  same  instant.  A  fierce 
combat  took  place.  Three  of  the  white  men  and 
four  Indians  were  killed,  and  the  solitary  surviving 
Wyandot  escaped  badly  wounded.  From  this  bloody 
fight  Adam  emerged  unhurt,  and  at  once  went  in 
search  of  his  brother  in  the  direction  from  which  the 
sound  of  a  shot  had  come,  that  with  which  Andrew 
had  killed  the  smaller  Indian.  Adam  came  out  on 
the  bank  above  the  river  at  the  precise  moment  that 
Andrew  had  turned  to  swim  away,  and  the  chief  had 
seized  the  empty  rifle  from  the  sands.  Andrew 
was  covered  with  blood  and  unrecognizable.  Adam 
thought  him  an  Indian  and  fired  at  him,  hitting  him 
in  the  shoulder,  and  hardly  had  he  pulled  trigger 
when  he  saw  the  chief. 


^56        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

The  white  man  and  the  Wyandot  faced  each  other 
with  empty  guns.     The  Indian  grinned. 

"Who  load  first,  shoot  first,"  he  challenged. 

The  men  dropped  the  butts  of  their  rifles  to  the 
ground.  It  became  a  very  pretty  race  as  to  which 
could  beat  the  other  in  loading.  The  chief  was  ex- 
pert, and  was  well  ahead  in  this  novel  contest  up  to 
the  moment  when  he  attempted  to  use  his  ramrod. 
It  slipped  through  his  fingers  and  fell  into  the  stream. 
With  the  cool  judgment  of  the  practised  warrior  he 
knew  he  had  lost,  and  with  the  fortitude  of  a  savage 
he  accepted  his  fate  calmly.  Letting  fall  his  piece 
on  the  sands  he  tore  open  the  front  of  his  shirt  to 
expose  his  breast,  and  fell  with  the  ball  through  his 
heart.     Andrew  was  then  rescued  by  his  brother. 

A  very  remarkable  episode  mentioned  by  all  the 
writers  of  that  time  occurred  after  a  successful 
attack  on  one  of  the  flat  boats  we  mentioned  a  time 
back.  The  massacre  was  pretty  complete,  but  two 
men  managed  to  escape  notice  and  hide  out  until 
the  Indians  had  gone.  Then  by  great  good  luck 
they  discovered  one  another:  for  one  of  them  had 
both  arms  broken,  and  the  other  both  legs! 

"Well,"  said  one  of  them  cheerfully,  "we've  got 
all  the  arms  and  legs  we  need  between  us."  And 
they  started  out  methodically  to  supply  each  other's 
deficiencies.     For  some  weeks  they  lived  near  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        257 

battlefield.  The  man  who  had  his  legs  did  all  the 
walking:  he  pushed  firewood  over  to  his  friend;  he 
made  long  cautious  circuits  and  drove  game  in;  he 
carried  the  other  pickaback  when  it  became  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  use  a  pair  of  hands  at  a  distance. 
The  other  man  built  the  fire,  did  the  cooking,  fed 
his  companion,  shot  the  game  driven  toward  him. 
A  flat  boat  picked  them  up  eventually. 

Another  of  these  flat-boat  massacres  took  place 
when  a  great  many  Indians  cut  off  several  boats  from 
a  convoy.  All  but  one  of  those  so  cut  off  were  cap- 
tured and  their  occupants  killed;  but  one,  under 
command  of  an  old  sea  captain,  put  up  a  desperate 
defense  from  behind  the  frail  bulwarks.  One  by 
one  the  men  were  killed  or  wounded;  the  horses  and 
cattle  aboard  were  panic  stricken;  the  women  and 
children  huddled  low,  not  knowing  from  one  second 
to  another  whether  they  would  be  trampled  to 
death,  would  receive  a  bullet,  or  would  see  painted 
forms  leaping  over  the  gunwale.  Indeed  twice  the 
Indians  did  come  to  close  grips  and  were  only 
beaten  off  by  the  most  desperate  fighting.  At  last 
the  attack  was  withdrawn  and  the  wounded  could 
be  cared  for,  the  dead  animals  removed,  and  the 
slain  white  people  prepared  for  burial.  It  was  a 
sad  task  and  a  long  task;  but  at  length  it  was  finished, 
and  the  shattered  little  band  floated  in  some  sem- 


258        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

blance  of  order  down  the  stream.  Then  up  spoke  a 
boy  of  eleven  years  who  had  sat  huddled  out  of  the 
way  at  one  end  of  the  boat. 

"Captain,"  he  said,  "will  you  see  what  you  can  do 
for  my  head.'^" 

The  captain  looked.  A  bullet,  probably  spent 
from  passing  through  the  planks,  had  lodged  under 
the  skin  of  the  boy's  forehead.  Carefully  the  sea- 
man cut  it  out.     The  boy  did  not  wince. 

"Now,  captain,"  he  begged  as  the  other  turned 
away,  "will  you  look  at  my  arm." 

It  turned  out  that  the  elbow  had  been  broken  by  a 
shot.  Before  the  arm  was  bound  up  the  captain  was 
forced  to  remove  a  piece  of  bone. 

"There,  my  lad,"  said  he  when  the  operation  was 
finished,  "But  why  didn't  you  sing  out.'^" 

"You  ordered  us  to  lie  down  and  make  no  noise," 
replied  the  boy,  "and,"  he  added  quaintly,  "there 
was  noise  enough  without  mine." 

In  an  outlying  cabin  lived  a  settler  named  Binga- 
man.  The  cabin  had  one  room  below,  and  a  loft. 
Below  slept  Bingaman,  his  wife  and  child  and  his  old 
mother.  In  the  loft  was  a  hired  man.  Late  one 
night  the  inmates  were  awakened  by  a  terrific 
crash  on  the  door.  Eight  Indians  had  assailed  the 
cabin,  and  had  run  at  the  door  with  a  log  of  wood  as 
a  battering  ram.     Bingaman  had  just  time  to  leap 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        259 

from  the  bed  and  seize  his  rifle  when  the  door  gave 
way.  Instantly  he  discharged  the  piece  at  the  dark 
figures  in  the  doorway.  Four  or  five  streaks  of  fire 
answered  him.  He  swept  the  two  women  and  the 
child  under  the  bed  and  clubbing  his  long  heavy 
rifle,  leaped  single-handed  against  the  foe.  The  door 
had  swung  to  and  the  room  was  in  absolute  darkness. 
Like  a  madman  Bingaman  laid  about  him.  Several 
times  he  was  grappled  and  borne  down,  but  each 
time  his  wiry  strength  enabled  him  to  shake  himself 
free.  One  after  another  his  foes  were  killed  or 
crippled  by  his  powerful  blows  until  at  last  but  one 
remained;  and  this  one  fled  terror-stricken.  When 
a  light  was  struck  the  place  looked  like  a  shambles. 
The  women  and  the  child  crept  forth  from  under  the 
bed.  Bingaman  then  discovered  that  at  the  first 
fire  his  wife  had  been  wounded  in  the  breast.  At 
that  it  took  the  combined  persuasions  of  all  three  to 
prevent  his  going  up  in  the  loft  to  kill  the  hired  man, 
who  had  prudently  kept  out  of  it. 

But  we  have  not  the  space  to  multiply  instances. 
It  is  stated  that  in  these  years  fifteen  hundred  white 
people  were  massacred  in  Kentucky. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THESE  troubles  came  to  a  climax  in  July  of 
1782.  Two  British  officers.  Captains  Caldwell 
and  McKee,  started  from  Detroit  in  command 
of  over  a  thousand  Indians,  a  tremendous  army  for 
those  days.  This  great  force  was  to  settle  the  matter 
once  and  for  all;  crush  the  feeble  and  scattered  forts; 
massacre  the  inhabitants,  already  exhausted  by  the 
long  struggle;  and  so  assure  the  vast  country  west  of 
the  Allegheny  for  the  crown.  It  was  by  far  the  largest 
body  of  men,  either  white  or  red,  ever  gotten  together 
west  of  the  mountains.  It  had  every  prospect  of 
success,  but  the  expedition  fizzled  out,  as  so  many 
had  done  before  it,  because  of  the  inability  of  Indians 
in  large  bodies  to  "carry  through."  They  were  no 
sooner  well  started  than  somebody  came  into  camp 
with  the  rumour  that  George  Rogers  Clark  intended 
to  attack  the  Shawnee  villages.  That  was  enough. 
Clark's  determined  midwinter  march  against  Vin- 
cennes  had  impressed  the  Indians  with  the  idea  that 
nothing  was  impossible  to  him.  In  vain  did  Cald- 
well and  McKee  appeal  to  their  reason  and  common 
sense.     It  did  no  good  to  ask  whence  Clark  had  ob- 

260 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        261 

tained  his  men,  how  he  was  going  to  get  to  the  Shaw- 
nee villages;  the  red  men  remembered  distinctly  that 
in  the  dead  of  winter,  and  apparently  from  the 
middle  of  an  overflowed  flood  of  ice  water,  Clark  had 
once  materialized  out  of  the  thin  air.  They  turned 
around  and  scuttled  back  to  see  about  those  precious 
villages. 

Of  course  the  rumour  was  entirely  groundless, 
but  that  did  the  harassed  Britons  little  good.  Once 
the  savages  had  retasted  the  delights  of  home  life 
and  stewed  fresh  corn  they  hated  to  arouse  them- 
selves for  the  second  time  to  face  the  discomforts 
and  dangers  of  the  war  trail.  After  trying  without 
avail  to  rekindle  the  spark  of  enterprise  McKee  and 
Caldwell  had  to  set  out  again  with  only  three  hundred 
instead  of  the  thousand.  The  reason  they  retained 
three  hundred  was  because  these  faithful  adherents 
were  not  Shawnees,  but  Hurons  and  lake  tribes,  and 
so  still  far  from  home.  Three  hundred  was  even 
yet  a  formidable  force  but  it  was  not  a  crushing  force. 
They  crossed  the  Ohio  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
attack  one  of  the  small  stockaded  forts,  called 
Bryan's  or  Bryant's  Station.  This  was  the  north- 
ernmost, and  if  the  Indians  could  take  it  by  surprise, 
the  four  other  stations  north  of  the  Kentucky  River 
should  fall  an  easy  prey.  The  over-eagerness  of  some 
of  the  younger  Indian  spies  betrayed  them  to  the 


262        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

white  scouts,  who  managed  to  get  a  warning  to  the 
garrison.  Now  occurred  the  heroic  deed  before 
narrated  when  under  the  eyes  of  the  savages  the 
women  and  children  went  to  the  spring  to  bring  in  a 
supply  of  water.  Hardly  were  they  within  the  walls 
of  the  fort,  however,  when  the  Indians  perceived  that 
their  presence  was  known;  perhaps  by  the  slamming 
shut  of  the  big  gate.  At  any  rate,  they  attacked  so 
suddenly  that  one  or  two  white  men,  who  had  lingered 
in  the  cornfields  just  outside,  were  killed. 

At  first  but  a  small  body  of  the  Indians  mani- 
fested themselves.  They  appeared  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance, yelling  and  prancing  about,  hurling  defiance 
at  the  fort,  hoping  to  decoy  the  whites  into  the  open, 
or  at  least  to  attract  all  attention  to  that  side  of  the 
fort  in  order  to  give  a  chance  for  the  real  rush  on  the 
other.  But  these  seasoned  old  Indian  fighters  were 
not  deceived.  A  dozen  of  the  youngest  and  most 
active  men  were  slipped  out  through  the  gate  and 
instructed  to  make  a  lot  of  noise  and  carry  on  a  mock 
combat  with  the  decoy  band  of  Indians.  In  the 
meantime,  the  defenders  silently  gathered  behind  the 
walls  on  the  other  side  of  the  fort. 

Sure  enough,  hardly  had  the  young  men  begun  to 
bang  away  and  yell,  when  a  vast  horde  of  Indian 
warriors  rushed  the  walls  from  the  other  side.  The 
long  Kentucky  rifles  spoke  with  deadly  accuracy. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        263 

The  attack  withered  back  discouraged,  and  the 
young  men  on  the  other  side,  laughing  heartily,  and 
mocking  the  decoys,  slipped  back  through  the  gate. 
At  once  the  Indians  surrounded  the  whole  fort,  each 
creeping  up  as  close  as  he  could  find  shelter;  and 
opening  fire  in  the  usual  Indian  fashion.  This  kept 
up  for  several  hours. 

The  white  men  had  sent  out  their  swiftest  run- 
ners, when  first  the  news  of  Indians  was  brought,  to 
seek  aid  at  the  other  stations.  By  luck  one  of  these 
came  across  a  force  of  men  from  Lexington  out  with 
the  intention  of  cutting  off  the  retreat  of  marauding 
savages  across  the  Kentucky.  Nobody  seems  to 
have  had  the  slightest  idea  that  the  red  men  were  out 
in  such  force.  The  scouts  must  have  encountered 
only  small  advance  parties.  Major  Todd  and  forty 
men  were  detached  from  the  main  body  to  rescue 
the  fort!  Seventeen  of  these  were  on  horseback:  the 
rest  on  foot. 

There  is  no  question  that  this  little  band  would 
have  been  killed  to  the  last  man  had  it  not  been  that 
the  Indians  were  completely  surprised  by  their  ap- 
pearance. Evidently  they  had  not  expected  any  one 
from  the  outside  for  some  time  yet.  Todd  and  his 
men  came  toward  the  fort  by  a  road  that  led 
through  a  field  of  corn  taller  than  a  man;  and  were 
right  among  the  Indians  before  they  were  seen.     A 


264        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

few  startled  warriors  fired  upon  them.  Todd  and 
the  horsemen  struck  spurs  to  their  horses  and  riding 
hard  reached  the  fort.  The  footmen  doubled  back 
and  disappeared  in  the  dense  forest  before  the  foe 
recovered  his  wits.  One  of  these,  however,  was 
killed,  and  three  wounded. 

A  few  years  before  this  time  the  situation  of  the 
fort  would  have  been  even  more  desperate  than  was 
that  of  Boonesborough  in  its  memorable  siege.  But 
Boonesborough  stood  alone  in  a  wilderness,  while 
now,  within  reasonable  distance,  w^re  many  settle- 
ments from  which  reenforcements  would  shortly 
come.  The  Indians  and  their  white  allies  understood 
this  perfectly.  All  that  night  the  little  garrison  were 
subjected  to  one  ferocious  attack  upon  another, 
with  the  usual  shooting  of  blazing  arrows,  rushing 
of  the  stockade  with  flaring  torches.  The  defenders 
managed  by  terrific  effort  to  maintain  the  walls,  and 
the  day  broke  with  the  fort  still  safe. 

Our  old  acquaintance,  Simon  Girty,  was  with  the 
invaders,  and  at  one  time  tried  to  scare  the  garrison 
into  surrender  by  tall  talk  of  artillery.  Of  course 
you  can  readily  see  that  even  one  small  iron  cannon 
would  have  changed  utterly  all  this  backwoods  war- 
fare. No  stockade  could  have  stood  for  a  moment. 
Therefore  artillery  was  the  one  thing  dreaded. 
Heretofore  the  distance  such  a  weapon  would  have  to 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        265 

be  dragged  through  a  rough  and  unbroken  wilder- 
ness had  made  its  use  impossible.  But  the  dread 
was  always  there.  However,  nobody  was  particu- 
larly scared.  A  young  fellow  with  a  ready  tongue, 
named  Reynolds,  happened  to  be  in  the  garrison. 
He  leaped  to  the  parapet  in  full  view. 

"You  ask  if  we  do  not  know  you.^"  he  shouted. 
"Know  you!  Yes.  We  know  you  too  well.  Know 
Simon  Girty!  Yes.  He  is  the  renegade,  cowardly 
villain,  who  loves  to  murder  women  and  children, 
especially  those  of  his  own  people.  Know  Simon 
Girty!  Yes.  His  father  was  a  panther  and  his 
dam  a  wolf.  I  have  a  worthless  dog  that  kills 
lambs.  Instead  of  shooting  him  I  have  named  him 
Simon  Girty.  You  expect  cannon,  do  you.^  Cow-- 
ardly  wretches  like  you  would  not  dare  touch  them 
off  if  you  had  them.  Even  if  you  could  batter  down 
our  pickets  I,  for  one,  hold  your  people  in  too  much 
contempt  to  discharge  rifles  at  them.  I  have  been 
roasting  a  number  of  hickory  switches  with  which  we 
mean  to  whip  your  cutthroats  out  of  the  country." 

With  a  laugh  he  jumped  down  out  of  sight  just 
in  time  to  escape  a  hundred  or  so  of  exasperated 
bullets. 

However,  the  Indians  knew  that  Reynolds  spoke 
the  truth  in  one  particular.  They  were  aware  that 
the  riflemen  of  the  other  settlements  must  be  assem- 


266        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

bling,  and  would  shortly  descend  upon  them.  The 
first  attack  having  failed,  they  had  shot  their  bolt. 
On  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth  of  August  they 
withdrew,  very  angry  over  their  failure. 

Before  going  on  with  the  main  narrative,  it  will 
be  amusing  for  us  to  learn  what  further  we  can  of 
this  same  young  fellow,  Reynolds,  with  the  "ready 
tongue,"  for  later  we  shall  meet  him  at  the  dis- 
astrous battle  of  Blue  Licks.  His  tongue  evidently 
was  always  rather  too  ready.  We  encounter  him 
in  the  militia  command  of  a  Captain  Patterson,  de- 
scribed as  good-hearted  and  active,  but  a  "very  pro- 
fane swearing  man."  The  latter  description  must 
have  been  mild,  for  at  the  end  of  four  days  Captain 
Patterson  decided  either  to  make  him  modify  his 
swearing  or  send  him  home.  Of  course  we  do  not 
know  how  religious  a  man  Patterson  was;  but  the 
backwoods  leaders  of  those  days  were  not  notably 
squeamish.  The  captain  waited  until  Reynolds  was 
in  full  swing,  and  then  called  him  down  hard  and 
publicly.  Temporary  effect.  Next  day  the  "pro- 
fane swearing  man"  was  at  it  as  bad  as  ever.  This 
time  Patterson  enforced  military  discipline  not  only 
by  an  even  severer  scolding,  but  by  a  promise  of  a 
bottle  of  rum  if  he  "immediately  quit  his  profanity 
and  swearing."  Four  days  later,  when  the  expe- 
dition had  ended,   Reynolds  demanded  his  quart. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        26T 

Captain  Patterson  ventured  to  doubt  whether  the 
young  man  had  gone  four  full  days  without  a  single 
oath.  Reynolds  appealed  to  the  company  then 
drawn  up  at  parade.  To  a  man  they  said  they  had 
not  heard  Reynolds  "cuss  a  solitary  cuss"  since  he 
had  been  rebuked.  "Then,"  says  the  chronicler, 
"the  spirits  were  drank." 

To  the  fort  at  Bryan's  Station  gathered  the  rifle- 
men summoned  to  its  aid.  Boone  was  one  of  the 
first,  with  his  neighbours  and  his  son  Frank.  They 
were  the  best  type  of  the  backwoods  fighters,  these 
men,  but  unruly,  undisciplined,  headlong,  and  im- 
patient of  control.  Their  leaders  persuaded  rather 
than  commanded  them.  And  owing  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  gathered  from  many  communities 
there  was  really  no  one  man  who  could  so  command 
them  all.  They  were  angr^^  and  eager  for  ven- 
geance; and  they  w^ere  exultant  over  the  repulse  of 
the  Indians  by  the  fort.  Next  day  they  set  forth, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-two  of  them,  all  on  horse- 
back, all  armed  with  the  long  rifle.  It  was  known 
that  the  County  Lieutenant,  Logan,  was  raising  a 
large  body  of  men  in  haste,  and  would  soon  be  on  the 
scene;  but  those  already  on  the  spot  feared  to  await 
his  arrival  lest  the  enemy  scatter  and  escape. 


CHAPTER  XX 

TELE  invading  band  had  retreated  in  a  leisurely 
fashion,  following  the  wide,  hard-beaten 
buffalo  roads  that  led  to  the  Blue  Licks.  By 
afternoon  the  pursuers  had  come  to  where  their 
enemies  had  camped  the  night  before.  Boone  and 
the  other  leaders  examined  the  indications  carefully, 
and  easily  determined  that  they  were  badly  outnum- 
bered. However,  they  continued  the  pursuit,  and 
early  the  following  morning  came  to  the  Blue  Licks. 
As  they  drew  near,  a  number  of  scattered  Indians 
could  plainly  be  seen  climbing  up  the  rocky  ridge  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river.  You  can  imagine  how 
this  sight  excited  the  hotheads  in  the  party.  How- 
ever, in  spite  of  the  impatience  of  the  latter,  the 
older  men  halted  and  called  a  council.  Boone,  as 
the  most  noted  Indian  fighter,  was  asked  for  his 
opinion  and  advice. 

"We  have  followed  them  too  easily,"  he  told  his 
companions;  "the  trail  has  been  too  plain.  It  has 
been  made  plain  purposely.  Without  doubt  the 
Indians  know  that  we  are  an  inferior  force  and 
they  want  to  be  followed  and  attacked.     They  have 

268 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        269 

marked  their  trail  too  plainly,  I  tell  you;  they  have 
left  their  campfires  burning;  and  there  have  been 
too  few  campfires  for  the  other  indications  of  the 
numbers.  They  are  trying  to  make  us  believe  they 
are  fewer  than  they  are.  It  has  been  all  right  for  us 
to  press  them  hard  in  a  hasty  pursuit,  otherwise  they 
might  have  scattered.  My  advice  is  to  wait  now  for 
Logan." 

The  responsible  men,  including  the  leaders,  Todd 
and  Trigg,  agreed  to  this;  but  the  younger  men, 
under  the  instigation  of  a  rash  fool  named  Hugh 
McGarry,  raised  a  storm  of  protest. 

"If  we  are  to  attack,"  then  said  Boone,  "let  us 
divide  into  two  parties,  one  to  cross  the  river  in  front 
and  the  other  to  go  around  the  bend  of  the  river  and 
strike  the  rear." 

"And  in  the  meantime,  the  red  varmints  get 
away!"  shouted  McGarry,  with  a  furious  gesture 
toward  the  handful  of  savages  temptingly  exposed 
on  the  face  of  the  rocks,  as  they  made  their  slow 
way  upward. 

"At  least  send  ahead  scouts!"  cried  Boone  in 
desperation. 

But  McGarry,  raising  the  warwhoop,  spurred  into 
the  river,  brandishing  his  rifle. 

"All  who  are  not  cowards  follow  me!"  he  yelled. 

Instantly  the  wild  young  fellows,  carried  away  by 


^70        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

the  excitement  of  the  moment,  dashed  in  after  him, 
crossing  the  stream  in  huddlement  and  confusion. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  follow  and  to  save  the 
day  if  possible.  Todd  and  Trigg  took  the  centre 
and  right  of  the  line  respectively,  while  Boone  and 
his  own  men  hastened  to  the  left.  Almost  im- 
mediately the  blunderers  fell  into  the  ambush. 
Boone  won  his  fight  on  his  own  side  of  the  line, 
pushing  the  enemy  back  steadily  and  inflicting  about 
all  the  loss  that  enemy  was  to  sustain.  But  the  rest 
of  the  line  was  simply  overwhelmed.  Painted  war- 
riors arose  on  all  sides  of  the  trap  into  which  head- 
strong folly  had  led  their  foes,  and  poured  in  a  with- 
ering fire.  Todd,  Trigg,  and  Harlan,  the  three 
leaders,  were  almost  immediately  killed.  A  wdld 
riot  followed.  Everyone  rushed  back  toward  the 
ford,  the  pursuing  Indians  at  their  heels;  indeed, 
fairly  among  them.  Boone's  little  force  on  the  left, 
without  support,  found  itself  abandoned.  Sur- 
rounded on  three  sides  by  increasing  numbers,  it,  too, 
broke  back  toward  the  river.  It  is  recorded  that 
Boone  himself  was  the  last  to  leave  the  field.  As  he 
drew  back  his  son  Frank  fell.  The  old  hunter  turned 
like  a  lion  at  bay,  beat  off  his  pressing  enemies, 
with  an  effort  heaved  the  body  across  his  shoulders 
to  save  it  from  the  scalping  knife.  As  he  staggered 
toward  the  river  a  gigantic  Indian  rushed  upon  him. 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        271 

tomahawk  uplifted.  With  a  groan  Boone  dropped 
the  body  of  his  son,  shot  the  Indian  through  the 
heart,  and  then,  as  his  enemies  closed,  leaped  away. 

Every  inch  of  this  country  was  known  to  him. 
He  broke  through  his  pursuers  to  one  side,  darted 
down  a  little  ravine  known  only  to  himself,  outran 
several  Indians,  and  finally  made  his  way  back  to 
Bryan's  Station  by  a  widely  circuitous  route. 

One  of  Boone's  staunchest  supporters  in  the  pre- 
liminary councils  had  been  a  man  named  Nether- 
land.  Indeed  so  vehement  had  he  been  that  the 
younger  men  had  laughed  him  to  scorn  as  a  coward. 
Now  in  the  headlong  retreat  he  led  the  way  and  was 
the  first  to  recross  the  river.  We  can  imagine  some 
of  his  companions,  even  in  the  turmoil  of  this  dis- 
aster, sparing  him  a  contemptuous  thought.  How- 
ever, he  proved  to  be  one  of  the  few  sensible  men 
present,  and  one  with  the  truest  courage.  No 
sooner  had  he  gained  the  south  bank  when  he  pulled 
in  his  horse  and  dismounted,  calling  loudly  on  his 
comrades  to  make  a  stand  there  to  cover  the  flight. 
Almost  all  within  sound  of  his  voice  obeyed  him. 
They  opened  a  steady,  well-directed  fire  on  the  pur- 
suers. At  that  moment  the  ford  was  jammed  with 
horsemen,  footmen,  and  Indians.  Netherland's  vig- 
orous fire  forced  the  latter  back  long  enough  to  per- 
mit the  confusion  to  straighten  itself  out  a  little. 


272        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

On  the  south  bank  the  white  men  began  to  defend 
themselves  and,  in  small  groups,  to  retreat  slowly. 

Now  among  the  participants  in  this  battle  were 
both  that  "profane  swearing  man,"  Aaron  Reynolds, 
and  his  old  commander  with  whom  he  had  clashed 
on  the  occasion  which  happily  culminated  when 
the  "spirits  were  drank."  When  the  rout  began 
Captain  Patterson  could  not  find  his  horse,  and  as 
he  was  still  suffering  from  unhealed  wounds  inflicted 
in  another  Indian  fight,  the  hasty  flight  afoot  soon 
exhausted  him.  Just  as  he  gave  up  all  hope  young 
Reynolds  leaped  his  horse  over  intervening  ob- 
stacles to  his  side;  dismounted;  and,  without  a  by- 
your-leave,  bundled  the  captain  into  the  saddle. 
Before  Patterson  realized  what  was  going  on,  he 
was  dashing  into  the  river.  He  was  actually  the  last 
man  to  cross.  Some  of  the  Indians  were  running 
alongside  shooting  at  him,  but  he  escaped  without 
another  scratch. 

In  the  meantime,  Reynolds,  who  was  a  remarkably 
strong  and  active  young  fellow,  ran  and  dodged  and 
reached  the  river  safely,  but  not  at  the  ford.  He  was 
forced  to  plunge  in  and  swim  across.  On  the  other 
side,  after  outdistancing  his  pursuers,  he  stopped  to 
wring  out  his  buckskin  trousers.  Those  of  you  who 
have  worn  buckskin  will  appreciate  the  necessity  for 
that.     When  wet,  buckskin  is  heavy,  clammy,  and 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        273 

stretches  absurdly,  so  that  the  garment  which  when 
dry  is  decidedly  too  small,  when  wet  has  enough  ma- 
terial in  it  to  furnish  out  two  grown  men  and  a  boy. 
Just  as  he  was  pulling  off  the  trousers,  and  so  was 
all  tangled  up,  two  Indians  pounced  on  him  and  took 
him  prisoner.  But  Reynolds  was  not  at  the  end  of 
his  resources.  Watching  his  chance  he  knocked 
down  one  of  his  captors  and  escaped.  Later  he  met 
Patterson  who,  of  course,  thanked  him  earnestly; 
at  the  same  time  asking  rather  curiously  why  he  had 
taken  such  desperate  chances  for  the  sake  of  a  man 
with  whom  he  had  had  nothing  but  trouble  and 
diflSculty.  He  replied  that  ever  since  Patterson  had 
made  him  stop  swearing  he  had  felt  a  strong  affection 
for  him  and  had  completely  reformed  not  only  his 
actions  but  his  ways  of  thinking.  To  round  out  the 
story,  Patterson  then  gave  him  a  horse  and  saddle 
and  "a  hundred  acres  of  prime  land."  This  was 
the  first  real  property  the  young  man  had  ever 
owned.  It — and  his  narrow  escape — steadied  him. 
He  settled  down,  and  eventually  became  a  strong  and 
devout  church  member. 

Two  days  later  Logan  came  up  with  his  four  hun- 
dred men.  The  combined  forces  returned  to  the 
battlefield,  but  there  remained  nothing  to  do  but 
bury  the  dead. 

The  loss  to  the  backwoodsmen  was  very  heavy. 


274        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty-two,  seventy  were 
killed  outright;  besides  the  wounded,  and  seven  men 
captured.  Of  the  latter,  four,  as  was  customary, 
were  put  to  torture.  One  man  was  spared  because 
of  his  strength,  activity,  and  daring.  In  running  the 
gauntlet  he  managed  by  great  exertion  and  speed 
almost  to  gain  the  council  house,  when  he  darted  one 
side,  threw  one  Indian  violently  to  the  ground,  thrust 
his  head  between  the  legs  of  another  and  tossed  him 
over  his  back,  so  gaining  the  clear.  Then,  instead  of 
running  away,  he  leaped  on  a  stump,  knocked  his 
heels  together,  flopped  his  arms,  and  crowed  like  a 
rooster.  It  tickled  the  Indians  so  much  that  one  of 
the  older  chiefs  adopted  him  on  the  spot. 

This  crushing  defeat  plunged  all  the  border  in 
mourning.  Hardly  a  cabin  but  had  lost  one  of  its 
menfolk.  For  a  time  the  country  lay  supine.  The 
Indians,  satiated  with  victory,  had  disappeared  into 
the  gloom  of  the  northern  forests.  In  the  next  few 
months  small  bands  of  them  made  frequent  raids, 
striking  terror,  keeping  fresh  the  feeling  of  disaster. 
Boone  and  others  wrote  many  times  and  indignantly 
to  the  Virginia  Legislature  complaining  of  the  lack 
of  protection  and  aid.  At  last  George  Rogers  Clark 
took  the  matter  in  hand.  He  sent  out  runners  in 
all  directions  summoning  all  fighting  men  to  gather 
for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  on  the  Indians  a  de- 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        275 

cisive  blow.  It  was  the  psychological  moment. 
Wearied  by  repeated  attack  without  the  chance  of 
striking  back,  the  frontier  arose  eagerly.  Every  man 
who  could  pull  trigger  hastened  to  the  meeting 
place,  and  with  him  brought  all  the  cattle,  pack- 
horses,  and  supplies  he  could  obtain.  On  the  4th  of 
November  Clark  crossed  the  Ohio  at  the  head  of  one 
thousand  and  fifty  mounted  men;  a  huge  army  for 
the  backwoods.  They  captured  and  burned  many 
of  the  Indian  villages;  defeated  McKee,  one  of  the 
British  officers  who  had  led  the  invading  force; 
and,  what  was  of  most  importance,  destroyed  great 
quantities  of  corn  and  other  provisions. 

The  blow  was  a  heavy  one  in  itself,  but  particu- 
larly it  disheartened  the  Indians  because  they  had 
thought  the  battle  of  Blue  Licks  must  utterly  have 
crushed  the  white  man.  This  did  not  look  much 
like  it.  The  white  man  was  apparently  stronger 
than  ever.  If  such  a  disaster  as  the  Blue  Licks  de- 
feat could  not  check  him,  then  nothing  could.  The 
Indians  were  completely  discouraged.  Although  for 
some  years  longer  Kentucky  was  here  and  there 
subjected  to  many  raids,  never  again  did  the  savages 
attack  in  force  or  with  a  serious  purpose. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

IN  THIS  period  Daniel  Boone  was  still  called  upon 
to  fill  a  part.  He  was  both  sheriff  and  county 
heutenant,  and  his  duties  led  him  often  far 
afield  in  pursuit  of,  or  scouting  after,  small  maraud- 
ing bands  of  Indians.  Between  times  he  was  often 
required  to  act  as  guide  or  surveyor  for  men  search- 
ing out  desirable  tracts  of  land  for  speculation  or 
settlement;  or  as  pilot  to  one  or  another  of  the 
parties  of  immigrants  coming  in  over  the  Wilder- 
ness Road;  or  as  hunter  to  supply  wild  meat  to  this 
or  the  other  body  of  persons;  or  to  furnish  armed 
guards  of  riflemen  against  Indians.  His  fame 
spread.  It  wa^  said  that  he  was  almost  the  best- 
known  man  in  America,  and  that  his  renown  had  even 
extended  to  Europe. 

Kentucky  filled  up  rapidly.  Over  twelve  thousand 
persons  came  into  the  country  in  1783  and  1784.  Al- 
most over  night  the  life  was  changing.  There  were 
more  crops;  and  stores,  and  market  places,  and  regular 
streets  in  some  of  the  towns.  Lawyers,  doctors, 
traders,  speculators  came  in.  An  export  trade  of 
Kentucky  produce,  such  as  bacon,  beef,  salt,  ginseng, 

276 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        277 

tobacco,  sprang  up  both  across  the  mountains  and 
down  the  great  waterways. 

Boone,  when  at  home,  Hved  not  far  from  Boones- 
borough  on  a  farm.  Among  his  Indian  enemies 
his  fame  was  as  great  as,  or  greater  than,  with  the 
whites.  Twice  he  had  escaped  from  them  in  a 
mortifying  fashion,  after  they  had  supposed  him 
about  to  join  them,  and  of  course  his  now  innumer- 
able exploits  in  war  against  them  had  gained  him 
reputation  and  respect.  To  capture  him  would  be 
a  great  feat;  and  the  attempt  was  frequently  made. 
Boone  continued  to  lead  a  life  of  danger  and  escape. 

One  such  episode  he  himself  tells.  It  seems  that 
among  other  things  Boone  raised  tobacco.  Here  is 
the  account  of  the  adventure  as  reported  by  Peck, 
the  man  to  whom  Boone  narrated  it : 

"As  a  shelter  for  curing  the  tobacco  he  had  built 
an  enclosure  of  rails  a  dozen  feet  in  height  and 
covered  with  cane  and  grass.  Stalks  of  tobacco 
are  generally  split  and  strung  on  sticks  about  four 
feet  in  length.  The  ends  of  these  are  laid  on  poles 
placed  across  the  tobacco  house,  and  in  tiers,  one 
above  the  other,  to  the  roof.  Boone  had  fixed  his 
temporary  shelter  in  such  a  manner  as  to  have  three 
tiers.  He  had  covered  the  lower  tier  and  the  tobacco 
had  become  dry,  when  he  entered  the  shelter  for  the 
purpose  of  removing  the  sticks  to  the  upper  tier. 


278        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

preparatory  to  gathering  the  remainder  of  the  crop. 
He  had  hoisted  up  the  sticks  from  the  lower  to  the 
second  tier,  and  was  standing  on  the  poles  which 
supported  it,  while  raising  the  sticks  to  the  upper  tier, 
when  four  stout  Indians  w^ith  guns  entered  the  low 
door  and  called  him  by  name. 

"'Now,  Boone,  we  got  you.  You  no  get  away 
more.  We  carry  you  off  to  Chillicothe  this  time. 
You  no  cheat  us  any  more.' 

"Boone  looked  down  on  their  upturned  faces, 
saw  their  loaded  guns  pointed  at  his  breast,  and 
recognizing  some  of  his  old  friends  the  Shawnees 
who  had  made  him  prisoner  near  Blue  Licks  in  1778, 
coolly  and  pleasantly  responded: 

"*Ah,  my  old  friends,  glad  to  see  you.' 

"Perceiving  that  they  manifested  impatience  to 
have  him  come  down,  he  told  them  he  was  quite  will- 
ing to  go  with  them,  and  only  begged  that  they  would 
wait  where  they  were,  and  watch  him  closely,  until 
he  could  finish  removing  the  tobacco. 

"While  thus  parleying  with  them,  Boone  inquired 
earnestly  respecting  his  old  friends  in  Chillicothe. 
He  continued  for  some  time  to  divert  the  attention 
of  these  simple-minded  men  by  allusions  to  past 
events  with  which  they  were  familiar,  and  by  talking 
of  his  tobacco,  his  mode  of  curing  it,  and  promising 
them    an    abundant    supply.     With    their    guns    in 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        279 

their  hands,  however,  they  stood  at  the  door  of  the 
shed,  grouped  closely  together  so  as  to  render  his 
escape  apparently  impossible.  In  the  meantime, 
Boone  carefully  gathered  his  arms  full  of  the  long, 
dry  tobacco  leaves,  filled  with  pungent  dust,  which 
would  be  as  blinding  and  stifling  as  the  most  powerful 
snuff,  and  then  with  a  leap  from  his  station  twelve 
feet  high,  came  directly  upon  their  heads,  filling 
their  eyes  and  nostrils  and  so  bewildering  and  dis- 
abling them  for  the  moment  that  they  lost  all  self- 
possession  and  control. 

"Colonel  Boone  related  this  adventure  with 
great  glee,  imitating  the  gestures  of  the  bewildered 
Indians.  He  said  that  notwithstanding  his  narrow 
escape,  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation,  as  he 
reached  the  door  of  his  cabin,  to  look  around  to 
witness  the  effect  of  his  achievement.  The  Indians, 
coughing,  sneezing,  blinded,  and  almost  suffocated 
by  the  tobacco  dust,  were  throwing  out  their  arms 
and  groping  about  in  all  directions,  cursing  him 
for  a  rogue  and  calling  themselves  fools." 

It  is  written  in  the  histories  that  from  a  thousand 
to  fifteen  hundred  people  were  killed  by  Indians 
during  these  years.  The  big  formal  invasions  were 
over.  The  Indians  realized  that  they  could  not 
hope  to  drive  the  white  man  from  the  land.  Never- 
theless, the  lone  settler's  cabin,  the  incautious  im- 


280         Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

migrant  train,  the  inexperienced  newcomer  from  the 
eastern  civiHzations  offered  tempting  opportunities 
for  obtaining  coveted  scalps.  It  was  an  uneasy 
time,  full  of  adventure.  We  have  not  space  to  de- 
tail even  a  small  percentage  of  the  exciting  stories  that 
have  been  preserved  to  us.  It  was  said  that  reach- 
ing Kentucky  by  flat  boat  on  the  river  was  like 
running  the  gauntlet.  "For  a  long  time,"  says 
Abbott,  "it  had  been  unsafe  for  any  individual,  or 
even  small  parties,  unless  very  thoroughly  armed, 
to  wander  beyond  the  protection  of  the  forts."  You 
may  be  sure  the  white  men  were  not  idle,  nor  did  they 
suffer  without  attempts  at  retaliation.  Indeed  so 
many  Indians  were  captured  that  Boone  called  a 
great  council  at  Maysville,  the  small  station  near 
which  he  lived,  to  discuss  an  exchange  of  prisoners. 
This  was  arranged.  As  usual,  the  impression  made 
by  Boone  was  so  strong  that  the  Indian  chiefs  vol- 
untarily issued  orders  to  their  people  that  in  the 
future,  if  any  people  of  Maysville  were  captured, 
they  were  to  be  treated  kindly  and  with  the  deepest 
respect.  Nor  was  this  an  idle  bluff.  Some  time 
after  someone  from  Maysville  teas  captured,  and  did 
receive  the  most  extraordinary  good  treatment. 

But  now  Boone  was  to  receive  an  unmerited  blow, 
a  blow  that  not  only  hit  at  his  material  prosperity, 
but  which  hurt  his  feelings,  embittered  him  against 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        281 

civilization,  and  almost  embittered  him  against  his 
fellowman.  Almost,  I  say;  for  the  gentle,  friendly 
character  of  the  old  pioneA  was  proof  against  even 
the  shock  of  essential  injustice  and  ingratitude. 
However  he  might  resent  and  despise  the  institu- 
tions of  men,  he  seems  never  to  have  lost  his  kindly 
feeling  for  men  themselves. 

With  the  influx  of  new  settlers  had  come  stable 
government  and  the  formal  laws  and  regulations 
that  belong  with  it.  Among  these  were  of  course 
laws  as  to  the  ownership  of  land.  Certain  formal- 
ities had  to  be  complied  with,  as  was  quite  just 
and  proper;  but  these  formalities  were  often  so 
framed  as  to  favour  land  sharps  and  speculators, 
which  was  not  right  and  proper  at  all.  One  morn- 
ing the  sheriff  knocked  at  Boone's  door.  To  his 
hurt  astonishment  he  found  that  his  title  to  his  own 
home  had  been  questioned  in  the  courts.  Some 
technicality  he  had  not  fulfilled  of  the  many  made 
necessary  by  the  legislation  of  men  who  had  lately 
come  to  the  country. 

The  old  pioneer  was  astounded.  That  he  who  had 
opened  this  vast  area  to  white  settlement,  millions 
of  acres  of  it,  should  be  questioned  in  the  ownership 
of  the  few  he  had  selected  for  his  own  use,  seemed  to 
him  incredibly  unjust.  And  it  was  unjust.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  technically  he  did  not  possess  clear 


282        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

title :  there  is  also  no  doubt  that  morally  he  had  the 
clearest  title  possible.  The  unscrupulous  skunks 
in  human  form  who  saw  their  chance  to  put  in  a 
legally  sound  claim  in  opposition,  who  could  con- 
template for  a  moment  ousting  a  man  of  Boone's 
character  and  history;  the  lawyers  who  prosecuted 
the  case;  the  rigid-minded  judges  who  could  see 
no  possible  course  of  action  other  than  that  laid 
down;  the  legislature  that  did  not,  if  necessary, 
pass  especial  laws  assuring  his  ownership;  the  supine 
public  opinion  that  did  not  rise  in  indignation  over 
such  an  outrage,  are  almost  equally  to  blame.  That 
sort  of  legal  argument  to  excuse  injustice  can  com- 
mand the  patience  of  no  sensible  man.  Shortly, 
after  a  series  of  lawsuits,  the  old  woodsman  found 
himself  without  a  single  acre  in  the  land  he  had  dis- 
covered and  subdued! 

"My  footsteps  have  often  been  marked  with 
blood,"  said  he.  "Two  darling  sons  and  a  brother 
have  I  lost  by  savage  hands,  which  have  also  taken 
from  me  forty  valuable  horses  and  an  abundance  of 
cattle.  Many  dark  and  sleepless  nights  have  I  been 
a  companion  for  owls,  separated  from  the  cheerful 
society  of  men,  scorched  by  the  summer's  sun  and 
pinched  by  the  winter's  cold,  an  instrument  ordained 
to  settle  the  wilderness." 

From  the  depths  of  his  indignation  and  hurt  feel- 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        283 

ings  Boone  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Kentucky 
Legislature.  In  this  he  stated  simply  that  until 
Indian  troubles  had  ceased  he  had  not  attempted  to 
settle  down  to  farming,  but  had  fought  his  country's 
fight;  that  then  he  had  built  his  house  and  cleared  his 
fields  on  land  to  which  he  supposed  he  had  a  perfect 
title.  He  ran  over  very  briefly  and  modestly  the 
sacrifices  he  had  made  in  exploring,  settling,  and 
finally  defending  Kentucky.  He  complained  of  the 
injustice  of  acting  under  a  complicated  set  of  laws 
adopted  long  after  his  actual  occupancy  of  the  land. 
He  asked  for  redress. 

The  plea  remained  unanswered.  The  men  who 
were  so  unscrupulous  as  to  "buy  in"  or  locate  the 
lands  claimed  by  Boone  were  served  by  lawyers  as 
sharp.  They  gained  possession.  Without  doubt 
to-day  their  descendants  talk  proudly  of  their 
pioneer  ancestors.  Their  names  are  on  the  records 
of  the  times.  Suits  of  ejectment  succeeded  each 
other,  one  by  one,  until  at  the  last  Boone  was  left 
landless  and  almost  penniless.  Heartbroken,  he 
packed  his  few  belongings  on  his  horses,  and  de- 
parted, abandoning  his  beloved  Kentucky,  vowing 
never  again  to  dwell  within  her  boundaries. 

He  headed  for  Point  Pleasant,  at  the  junction  of 
the  Great  Kanawha  and  the  Ohio  rivers.  Here, 
you  will  remember,  was  fought  the  great  battle  in 


^84        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

the  old  days  when  the  chief  Cornstalk  had  led  his 
men  against  the  woodsmen  under  Lewis.  Boone 
arrived  here  in  1788.  For  a  time  he  kept  a  small 
store;  and  a  little  later  we  find  him  engaged  in  a 
great  variety  of  occupations,  guiding  immigrants, 
surveying,  supplying  w^ld  meat  to  the  militia, 
and  in  just  hunting.  He  was  often  far  afield.  Some- 
times he  even  ventured  north  of  the  Ohio,  where  he 
had  many  narrow  escapes  from  capture  or  death. 
The  crack  of  his  famous  rifle  was  still  dreaded  by 
his  old  enemies.  We  hear  of  him  at  many  widely 
separated  places :  visiting  kinsfolk  at  the  old  Pennsyl- 
vania home,  whither  he  and  his  wife  and  a  son  trav- 
elled on  horseback;  back  at  Maysville  to  settle  some 
business;  on  the  Monongahela  River  selling  horses; 
at  various  points  delivering  ammunition  and  sup- 
plies to  the  militia  in  the  field  against  the  torment- 
ing Indians.  After  Wayne's  final  crushing  victory 
against  the  latter  Boone  for  several  seasons  did  al- 
most nothing  but  hunt  and  trap.  He  gained  par- 
ticular renown  for  his  success  at  beaver  trapping. 
The  game  he  killed  he  shared  freely  with  the  con- 
stantly increasing  numbers  of  neighbours;  the  pel- 
tries he  shipped  to  market. 

For  some  years  the  valley  of  the  Kanawha  made 
him  a  good  home.  He  was  there  greatly  respected, 
which  was  balm  to  his  bruised  feelings.     By  popular 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        285 

petition  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of 
Kanawha  County,  and  in  many  other  ways  the 
people  accorded  him  marked  distinction.  Travellers 
journeyed  long  distances  to  see  this  man,  distin- 
guished throughout  the  western  world,  but  never- 
theless made  homeless  by  his  own  state.  One  of  these 
travellers  has  left  an  impression: 

"His  large  head,  full  chest,  square  shoulders,  and 
stout  form  are  still  impressed  upon  my  mind. 
He  was  (I  think)  above  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height, 
and  his  weight  say  175.  He  was  solid  in  mind  as  well 
as  in  body,  never  frivolous,  thoughtless,  or  agitated; 
but  was  always  quiet,  meditative,  and  impressive, 
unpretentious,  kind  and  friendly  in  his  manner. 
He  came  very  much  up  to  the  idea  we  have  of  the  old 
Grecian  philosophers— particularly  Diogenes." 
Says  another  writer: 

"I  have  often  seen  him  get  up  early  in  the  morning, 
walk  hastily  out,  and  look  anxiously  to  the  woods 
and  snuff  the  autumnal  winds  with  the  highest 
rapture:  and  then  return  to  the  house  and  cast  a 
quick  and  attentive  look  at  the  rifle,  which  was  al- 
ways suspended  to  a  joist  by  a  couple  of  buck  horns 
or  little  forks.  The  hunting  dog  understanding  the 
intentions  of  his  master  would  wag  his  tail,  and  by 
every  blandishment  in  his  power  express  his  readiness 
to  accompany  him  to  the  woods." 


286        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

However,  in  time  the  settlers  began  to  be  too 
numerous.  The  game  was  driven  back.  But  es- 
pecially the  new  type  displeased  Boone's  placid  and 
benevolent  nature;  the  intense,  nervous  energy,  the 
greed  of  some  of  them,  the  stinginess  of  others  dis- 
turbed his  hospitable  soul. 

One  day  two  or  three  hunters  came  by  Boone's 
cabin,  and  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  made  welcome. 
They  stayed  with  him  some  time,  hunting  with  him 
daytimes  and  sitting  with  him  around  the  blazing 
fire  in  the  evenings.  They  related  to  him  adven- 
tures in  far-off  lands  beyond  the  Mississippi;  lands 
where  the  game  roamed  in  vast  herds,  as  in  the 
Kentucky  of  yore;  lands  which  the  white  man  had 
seldom  trod,  and  which  the  red  man  claimed  by  the 
strength  of  his  good  right  arm;  another  Kentucky, 
unspoiled  by  the  greeds  of  civilization.  The  old 
man's  youth  revived  within  him;  his  imagination 
was  rekindled.  At  the  age  of  sixty-five  he  resolved 
once  more  to  set  forth  into  the  wilderness. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  occasion  of  the  setting  forth  from  the 
Kanawha  of  Boone,  his  wife,  and  younger 
children  must  have  warmed  the  old  pioneer's 
heart.  From  far  and  near  came  the  backwoodsmen 
and  their  families,  by  horseback,  in  canoe,  on  foot, 
until  at  Point  Pleasant  was  an  immense  gathering 
to  bid  him  farewell.  It  must  have  been  a  very 
touching  occasion;  for,  as  one  writer  expresses  it, 
they  "bade  him  farewell  as  solemnly  affectionate  as 
though  he  were  departing  for  another  world." 

They  set  off  in  boats  with  all  their  household 
goods  and  as  many  of  their  domestic  cattle  as  they 
could  find  room  for.  The  journey  was  made  by  the 
waterways  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  and 
was  a  leisurely  affair.  At  all  the  little  towns  and 
stations  they  stopped  to  see  friends  or  receive  the 
heartfelt  homage  of  the  people,  for  Boone  now 
found  that,  however  officialdom  might  hurt  him, 
the  people  loved  and  respected  him.  It  was  like 
a  triumphal  progress.  After  the  settlements  had 
been    left    behind    nothing    noteworthy    happened, 

287 


288        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

until  at  length  the  little  flotilla  landed  on  the  Mis- 
souri banks  of  the  Father  of  Waters. 

All  this  part  of  the  West  was  at  that  time  under 
Spanish  rule.  Boone  found  the  news  of  his  coming 
had  preceded  him,  and  that  even  in  advance  of  his 
arrival  the  Spanish  governor  had  granted  him  a 
thousand  acres  of  fine  bottomland  on  the  Femme 
Osage  Creek,  adjoining  land  belonging  to  his  son. 
Greatl}-^  soothed  by  this  appreciation  Boone  here, 
with  his  own  hands,  built  him  a  log  cabin,  and  for 
the  fourth  time  settled  down  as  a  pioneer. 

The  country  was  much  to  his  liking.  The  in- 
habitants were  scattered;  game  was  abundant;  the 
soil  was  rich;  there  were  almost  no  taxes;  and  the 
only  semblance  of  government  was  that  vested  in  a 
single  ofiicial  called  the  syndic,  who  was  a  sort  of 
combined  judge,  jury,  military  commander,  and 
sheriff.  To  the  west  stretched  the  vast  unknown 
plains  full  of  Indians,  w^ld  animals,  and  wilder  ad- 
venture.    Boone  resumed  his  old  life  with  zest. 

In  this  new  country,  too,  the  stability  and  solid 
worth  of  his  character  made  themselves  felt.  By  1800 
we  see  him  appointed  syndic  for  the  whole  district, 
truly  a  signal  honour  in  a  country  ruled  by  the 
Spanish.  So  well  did  he  perform  all  the  duties  of 
this  composite  ofiice  that  when,  by  the  Louisiana 
purchase,  the  United  States  took  over  the  country. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        289 

the  French  governor — you  remember,  possibly, 
that  the  country  passed  briefly  from  Spain  through 
French  hands — testified  to  President  Jefferson's 
commissioner  that,  "Mr.  Boone,  a  respectable  old 
man,  is  just  and  impartial.  He  has  already,  since 
I  appointed  him,  offered  his  resignation  owing  to  his 
infirmities,  but  believing  I  know  his  probity,  I  have 
induced  him  to  remain,  in  view  of  my  confidence  in 
him,  for  the  public  good." 

Boone  knew  nothing  whatever  about  law,  and  his 
experience  in  Kentucky  had  not  endeared  it  to  him. 
In  his  court  he  had  scant  patience  with  technicalities 
and  forms.  But  his  sense  of  fairness  and  justice 
was  keen,  and  his  decisions,  says  Thwaites,  "based 
solely  on  common-sense  in  the  rough,  were  respected 
as  if  coming  from  the  supreme  bench."  The  same 
writer  says:  "His  methods  were  as  primitive  and 
arbitrary  as  those  of  an  oriental  pasha;  his  pen- 
alties frequently  consisted  of  lashes  on  the  bare  back 
'well  laid  on';  he  would  observe  no  rules  of  evidence, 
saying  he  wished  only  to  know  the  truth ;  and  some- 
times both  parties  to  a  suit  were  compelled  to  divide 
the  costs  and  begone.  During  his  four  years  of 
office  he  passed  on  the  disputes  of  his  neighbours 
with  such  absolute  fairness  as  to  win  popular  ap- 
probation." Another  of  the  duties  of  his  office, 
which  the  old  man  greatly  relished,   was  showing 


290        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

immigrants  to  desirable  tracts  of  land.  No  one 
could  have  been  better  fitted  for  that.  His  hunting 
expeditions  taught  him  the  country;  his  keen  prac- 
tised eye  was  always  on  the  alert  for  fertile  soil  and 
favourable  location.  In  addition,  his  contempo- 
raries all  say,  the  duty  possessed  in  Boone's  eyes  a 
quality  of  hospitality  that  vastly  appealed  to  him. 
He  was  showing  his  guests  around.  The  universal 
testimony  from  those  who  have  left  personal  testi- 
mony is  that  at  this  task  Boone  was  at  his  best, 
displaying  a  charming  simple  dignity  that  quieted 
the  roughest  men  and  captured  the  affections  of  all 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

In  the  interims  between  official  duties  he  was  as 
active  as  ever  in  the  field,  despite  his  advancing 
years.  His  eyesight  was  failing  somewhat,  so  that 
he  complains  that  the  old  unerring  marksmanship 
was  no  longer  quite  at  his  command.  Nevertheless, 
he  could  still  outshoot  most  of  his  neighbours,  and 
his  skill  as  a  trapper  of  fur  was  unexcelled.  Chiefly 
he  sought  beaver  skins,  which  he  could  then  sell  in 
St.  Louis  for  nine  dollars  each.  He  has  himself 
said  that,  with  the  exception  of  his  first  years  in  the 
new  Kentucky,  this  was  the  happiest  period  of  his 
life. 

Many  travellers  made  it  a  point  to  visit  the 
famous  scout,   and   a  number  have  left   their  im- 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        291 

pressions  of  him.  Even  after  the  age  of  seventy  he 
was  evidently  a  vigorous  man.  Audubon  the  nat- 
uraHst  says:  "The  stature  and  general  appearance 
of  this  wanderer  of  the  western  parts  approached 
the  gigantic.  His  chest  was  broad  and  prominent, 
his  muscular  powers  displayed  themselves  in  every 
limb;  his  countenance  gave  indication  of  his  great 
courage,  enterprise,  and  persistence;  and  when  he 
spoke  the  very  motion  of  his  lips  brought  the  im- 
pression that  whatever  he  uttered  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  strictly  true."  Even  at  this  period,  when 
Boone  was  lamenting  the  waning  of  his  marks- 
manship, Audubon  testifies:  "We  had  returned 
from  a  shooting  excursion,  in  the  course  of  which  his 
extraordinary  skill  in  the  management  of  the  rifle 
had  been  fully  displayed." 

But  this  ideal  existence  was  not  long  to  continue. 
In  1804  the  United  States  took  over  by  purchase  the 
whole  of  this  country.  Naturally  Boone's  author- 
ity as  a  Spanish  magistrate  ended  with  that  fact. 
This  was  not  serious,  but  what  followed  was.  The 
grants  of  land  made  to  Boone  by  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernor were  shortly  found  to  be  faulty.  The  old 
man  should  have  journeyed  to  New  Orleans  in  per- 
son to  fulfil  certain  red-tape  obligations.  The 
journey  required  would  have  been  a  thousand 
miles  by  waterway  between  banks  swarming  with 


292        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

Indians;  and  a  return  by  land — the  current  was 
too  fast  for  a  return  by  water — through  the  same 
foes.  The  local  Spanish  governor  assured  Boone 
that  he,  as  syndic,  need  not  fulfil  this  law;  and  the 
old  man,  believing  his  informant,  never  made  the 
journey.  We  are  informed  that  the  land  com- 
missioners, "while  highly  respecting  him,  were  re- 
gretfully obliged"  to  deprive  him  of  his  land.  Again 
Eoone  found  himself  made  landless  by  his  own 
country.  On  the  advice  of  friends  he  sent  in  mem- 
orials to  both  the  Kentucky  Legislature  and  Con- 
gress, but  only  six  years  later  did  Congress  at  length 
take  action  to  confirm  his  Spanish  grant. 

In  the  meantime,  the  old  scout,  unembittered  by 
the  essential  injustice  of  this  calamity,  took  up 
with  renewed  vigour  the  life  of  a  fur  trapper.  He 
made  long  trips  into  the  wilderness,  into  hostile 
country,  almost  alone.  They  would  have  been 
extraordinary  trips  for  any  man,  but  when  we  con- 
sider Boone's  advanced  age,  we  cannot  but  wonder. 
At  the  age  of  eighty,  for  example,  we  hear  of  him  in 
the  Yellowstone!  Sometimes  one  of  his  sons  accom- 
panied him,  but  most  often  his  only  companion  was 
an  old  Indian. 

In  those  days  the  fur  trade  was  a  very  paying 
business.  Indeed,  it  was  about  at  this  period  that 
the  great  companies  were  solidifying  their  immense 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        293 

influence,  and  such  fortunes  as  that  of  John  Jacob 
Astor  were  made.  Trappers  were  either  "Com- 
pany men,"  or  "free  trappers."  The  former  were 
paid  regular  salaries  and  of  course  turned  over  to 
their  employers  all  their  skins;  the  latter  were 
supplied  with  traps  and  ammunition  and  turned 
loose  to  wander  at  their  own  wills,  it  being  under- 
stood that  they  sell  their  catch  to  the  company 
that  had  supplied  them,  at  a  price  agreed  upon  be- 
forehand. The  outfit  consisted  generally  of  two  or 
three  horses,  one  for  riding  and  the  others  for  pack- 
ing the  simple  camp  outfits  and  the  furs.  It  was 
of  course  very  desirable  to  find,  if  possible,  regions 
unvisited  by  either  white  man  or  Indian;  and  in 
consequence  long  and  solitary  journeys  were  the  rule. 

Your  trapper  was  in  those  days  a  highly  con- 
sidered individual.  He  led  a  bold,  free  life,  and  his 
adventures  struck  hard  at  the  imagination.  He 
thought  rather  well  of  himself  and  of  his  calling; 
and  he  dressed  the  part.  His  buckskin  clothes, 
fragrant  with  the  smoke  tan,  were  fringed  and  em- 
broidered heavily  with  porcupine  quills  stained  in 
bright  colours.  His  moccasins  especially  were  often 
real  works  of  art.  Customarily,  he  wore  a  flexible 
felt  hat,  as  successor  to  the  old  coon-skin  cap  usual 
in  the  more  wooded  countries. 

Early  in  the  spring,  just  as  soon  as  the  ice  had 


294        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

melted  in  the  mountain  streams,  he  arrived  at  his 
trapping  grounds.  Carefully  he  followed  up  the 
beds  of  the  watercourses,  watching  on  either  bank 
for  signs  of  any  of  the  valuable  fur-bearing  animals. 
Every  down  tree  he  examined  to  see  if  by  chance  a 
beaver  might  have  cut  it  down;  and  if  such  proved 
to  be  the  case,  whether  the  animal  had  felled  it  for 
food  or  as  material  for  a  dam.  Every  beaver  track 
he  followed  to  determine  whether  it  might  not  lead 
to  a  runway  where  he  could  set  his  trap.  When 
he  came  to  a  beaver  house,  he  set  his  trap  at  the 
edge  of  the  dam  just  where  the  beaver,  coming  out 
from  deep  water,  first  set  his  foot  into  shoal.  Once 
the  traps  were  all  set  the  busy  routine  life  began. 
The  "circle"  of  traps  often  involved  a  journey  of 
many  miles.  On  his  return  from  this  circle,  our 
trapper  had  next  to  skin  his  catch,  stretch  the  skins 
over  hoops  of  willow,  and  then  painstakingly  to 
scrape  and  pare  them  free  from  flesh  and  fat.  His 
food  during  the  trapping  season  was  "jerked"  meat 
and  what  provisions  he  had  brought  with  him.  All 
the  meat  for  his  use  he  had  killed  and  dried  before 
coming  on  the  trapping  grounds;  for,  if  he  could 
avoid  it.  the  sound  of  a  rifle  must  not  be  heard  in 
the  fur  country.  Beaver  tails,  however,  which  were 
considered  a  great  dainty,  gave  him  the  variety  of 
fresh  meat. 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        295 

A  book  called  "Buxton's  Travels"  gives  an  inter- 
esting picture  of  this  life : 

"During  the  hunt,  regardless  of  Indian  vicinity, 
the  fearless  trapper  wanders  far  and  near  in  search 
of  *sign.'  His  nerves  must  ever  be  in  a  state  of 
tension  and  his  mind  ever  present  at  his  call.  His 
eagle  eye  sweeps  around  the  country,  and  in  an 
instant  detects  any  foreign  appearance.  A  turned 
leaf,  a  blade  of  grass  pressed  down,  the  uneasiness  of 
wild  animals,  the  flight  of  birds,  are  all  paragraphs 
to  him  written  in  Nature's  legible  hand  and  plainest 
language.  All  the  wits  of  the  subtle  savage  are 
called  into  play  to  gain  an  advantage  over  the  wily 
woodsman;  but  with  the  instinct  of  the  primitive 
man,  the  white  hunter  has  the  advantage  of  a  civi- 
lized mind,  and  thus  provided  seldom  fails  to  outwit, 
under  equal  advantages,  the  cunning  savage. 

"Sometimes  the  Indian  following  on  his  trail 
watches  him  set  his  traps  on  a  shrub-belted  stream, 
and  passing  up  the  bed,  like  Bruce  of  old,  so  that 
he  may  leave  no  track,  he  lies  in  wait  in  the  bushes 
until  the  hunter  comes  to  examine.  Then  waiting 
until  he  approaches  his  ambush  within  a  few  feet, 
whiz  flies  the  home-drawn  arrow,  never  failing  at 
such  close  quarters  to  bring  the  victim  to  the  ground. 
For  one  white  scalp,  however,  that  dangles  in  the 
smoke  of  an  Indian  lodge  a  dozen  black  ones  at  the 


296        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

end  of  the  hunt  ornament  the  campfire  of  the  rendez- 
vous. 

"At  a  certain  time  when  the  hunt  is  over,  or  they 
have  loaded  their  pack  animals,  the  trappers  proceed 
to  their  rendezvous,  the  locality  of  which  has  been 
previously  agreed  upon;  and  here  the  traders  and 
agents  of  the  fur  companies  await  them,  with  such 
assortments  of  goods  as  their  hardy  customers  may 
require,  including  generally  a  fair  supply  of  alcohol. 
The  trappers  drop  in  singly  and  in  small  bands,  bring- 
ing their  packs  of  beaver  to  this  mountain  market, 
not  unfrequently  to  the  value  of  a  thousand  dollars 
each,  the  produce  of  one  hunt.  The  dissipation  of 
the  rendezvous,  however,  soon  turns  the  trapper's 
pocket  inside  out.  The  goods  brought  by  the 
traders,  although  of  the  most  inferior  quality,  are 
sold  at  enormous  prices.  Coffee  twenty  and  thirty 
shillings  a  pint  cup,  which  is  the  usual  measure; 
tobacco  fetches  ten  and  fifteen  shillings  a  plug; 
alcohol  from  twenty  to  fifty  shillings  a  pint;  gun- 
powder sixteen  shillings  a  pint  cup,  and  all  other 
articles  at  proportionately  exorbitant  prices. 

*'The  rendezvous  is  one  continued  scene  of  drunk- 
enness, gambling,  brawling  and  fighting,  so  long  as 
the  money  and  credit  of  the  trappers  last.  Seated 
Indian  fashion  around  the  fires,  with  a  blanket  spread 
before  them,  groups  are  seen  with  their  'decks'  of 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        297 

cards  playing  at  'euchre,'  'poker,'  and  'seven-up,' 
the  regular  mountain  games.  The  stakes  are  beaver, 
which  is  here  current  coin;  and  when  the  fur  is  gone, 
their  horses,  mules,  rifles  and  shirts,  hunting  packs 
and  breeches  are  staked.  Daring  gamblers  make 
the  rounds  of  the  camp,  challenging  each  other  to 
play  for  the  highest  stake — his  horse,  his  squaw  if 
he  have  one,  and  as  once  happened  his  scalp.  A 
trapper  often  squanders  the  produce  of  his  hunt, 
amounting  to  hundreds  of  dollars,  in  a  couple  of 
hours,  and,  supplied  on  credit  with  another  equip- 
ment, leaves  the  rendezvous  for  another  expedition 
which  has  the  same  result,  time  after  time,  although 
one  tolerably  successful  hunt  would  enable  him  to 
return  to  the  settlements  and  civilized  life  with  an 
ample  sum  to  purchase  and  stock  a  farm,  and  enjoy 
himself  in  ease  and  comfort  for  the  remainder  of  his 
days. 

"These  annual  gatherings  are  often  the  scene  of 
bloody  duels,  for  over  their  cups  and  cards  no 
men  are  more  quarrelsome  than  your  mountaineers. 
Rifles  at  twenty  paces  settle  all  differences,  and  as 
may  be  imagined,  the  fall  of  one  or  the  other  of  the 
combatants  is  certain,  or,  as  sometimes  happens^ 
both  fall  at  the  same  fire." 

This  Hfe  Daniel  Boone  hved,  all  but  the  carousals 
and  squanderings  at  the  rendezvous.     He  saved  his 


298        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

makings  and  brought  them  home.  He  was  now 
getting  to  be  an  old  man;  in  spite  of  the  robustness 
of  his  constitution  these  long  and  perilous  journeys 
were  beginning  to  tell  on  him.  On  one  occasion 
he  was  taken  so  dangerously  sick  that  it  seemed  to 
him  he  must  certainly  die.  For  a  long  time  he 
lay  in  camp  unable  to  move,  while  a  storm  raged. 
Finally  a  pleasant  day  came  when  he  felt  able  to 
walk.  Leaning  heavily  on  a  stick  he  struggled  to  the 
top  of  a  small  hill  and  there,  with  the  point  of  his 
staff,  he  marked  out  his  grave.  Then  he  proceeded 
to  give  his  companion,  who  this  time  happened  to 
be  merely  a  negro  boy  of  twelve  years,  the  most 
careful  instructions.  He  told  him,  in  case  the  illness 
proved  fatal,  to  "wash  and  lay  his  body  straight, 
wrapped  up  in  one  of  the  cleanest  blankets.  He  was 
then  to  construct  a  kind  of  shovel,  and  with  that 
instrument  and  the  hatchet  to  dig  a  grave  exactly  as 
he  had  marked  it  out.  He  was  then  to  drag  the  body 
to  the  place  and  put  it  in  the  grave,  which  he  was 
directed  to  cover  up,  putting  posts  at  head  and  foot. 
Poles  were  to  be  placed  around  and  above  the  sur- 
face, the  trees  to  be  marked  so  the  place  could  be 
easily  found  by  his  friends;  the  horses  were  to  be 
caught,  the  blankets  and  skins  gathered  up,  with 
especial  instructions  about  the  old  rifle,  and  various 
messages   to   his  family.     All  these  directions  were 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        299 

given,  as  the  boy  afterwards  declared,  with  entire 
calmness,  and  as  if  he  were  giving  instructions  about 
ordinary  business."  Fortunately  he  recovered:  but 
he  broke  camp  and  returned  home  without  attempt- 
ing to  continue  the  hunting. 

Another  incident  Abbott  quotes  from  some  un- 
named writer  as  follows: 

"One  writer  says  Colonel  Boone  went  on  a  trap- 
ping excursion  up  the  Grand  River.  This  stream 
rises  in  the  southern  part  of  Iowa,  and  flows  in  a 
southerly  course  into  the  Missouri.  He  was  entirely 
alone.  Paddling  his  canoe  up  the  lonely  banks  of 
the  Missouri,  he  entered  the  Grand  River,  and  es- 
tablished his  camp  in  a  silent  sheltered  cove,  where 
an  experienced  hunter  would  with  difficulty  find  it. 

"Here  he  first  laid  in  his  supply  of  venison,  turkeys, 
and  bear's  meat,  and  then  commenced  his  trapping 
operation,  where  no  sound  of  his  rifle  would  disturb 
the  beavers  and  no  smell  of  gunpowder  would  excite 
their  alarm.  Every  morning  he  took  the  circuit 
of  his  traps,  visiting  them  all  in  turn.  Much  to  his 
alarm,  he  one  morning  encountered  a  large  encamp- 
ment of  Indians  in  his  vicinity  engaged  in  hunting. 
He  immediately  retreated  to  his  camp  and  secreted 
himself.  Fortunately  for  him,  quite  a  deep  snow 
fell  that  night,  which  covered  his  traps.  But  this 
same  snow  prevented  him  from  leaving  his  camp. 


300        Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout 

lest  his  footprints  should  be  discovered.  For  twenty 
days  he  continued  thus  secreted,  occasionally,  at  mid- 
night, venturing  to  cook  a  little  food,  when  there 
was  no  danger  that  the  smoke  of  his  fire  would  reveal 
his  retreat.  At  length  the  enemy  departed,  and 
he  was  released  from  his  long  imprisonment.  He 
subsequently  stated  that  never  in  his  life  had  he 
felt  so  much  anxiety  for  so  long  a  period  lest  the 
Indians  should  discover  his  traps  and  search  out  his 
camp." 

In  vain  his  family  tried  to  keep  him  at  least  some- 
where near  home.  Their  appeals  made  no  impression 
on  the  old  man.  At  length  they  did  manage  to  per- 
suade him  never  to  go  anywhere  without  the  Indian 
before  mentioned.  The  latter  was  solemnly  in- 
structed to  bring  the  Colonel  back  "dead  or  alive." 

It  was  only  in  1810  that  the  reason  for  the  old 
gentleman's  persistence  became  clear.  Again  he 
set  forth  on  a  long  and  perilous  journey,  but  this 
time  with  his  face  to  the  east.  Once  more  he  stood 
within  the  borders  of  Kentucky. 

It  seems  that  the  land -grabbing  sharks  and  petti- 
fogging lawyers  had  not  only  cleaned  him  out  of 
land  but  the  defense  of  the  lawsuits  had  left  him  in 
debt.  Those  who  stood  his  creditors  had  never  by 
word  or  deed  reminded  him  of  that  fact,  nor  was  it 
known  except  to  them  and  to  Boone.     Such  was  the 


Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout        301 

esteem  in  which  he  was  held  that  no  one,  as  far  as 
could  be  learned,  had  the  sHghtest  notion  of  ever 
pressing  the  matter.  But  that  did  not  help  Boone's 
standing  with  himself.  By  the  most  incredible  ex- 
ertions, in  his  old  age,  he  had  managed  to  get  the 
money;  and  now  he  journeyed  from  place  to  place, 
saw  every  creditor,  and  paid  in  full.  Then  he  trav- 
elled back  to  his  family,  satisfied.  This  excursion 
left  him  of  all  his  wealth  just  one  fifty -cent  piece! 
But  Boone  w^as  exultant. 

"Now,"  he  cried,  "I  am  ready  and  willing  to  die! 
I  am  reheved  from  a  burden  which  has  long  op- 
pressed me.  I  have  paid  all  my  debts,  and  no  one 
can  say  when  I  am  gone,  'Boone  was  a  dishonest 
man.'     I  am  perfectly  content  now  to  die." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  War  of  1812  was  fought.  Boone  chafed 
Uke  a  young  man  over  the  refusal  of  the 
authorities  to  permit  him  to  enhst!  He  was 
then  seventy -eight  years  old.  His  impatience  rose 
to  a  very  high  pitch  when  the  uneasiness  of  the  war 
farther  east  brought  on  Indian  troubles  nearer  at 
home.  Some  of  the  farm  property  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  Boone  family  was  destroyed  in  one 
of  these  raids,  and  Boone's  sons,  Daniel  Morgan  and 
Nathan,  were  leaders  of  the  troops  sent  out  in  re- 
prisal. A  year  later  Boone's  wife  died,  a  great  grief, 
as  she  had  been  since  early  youth  his  heroic  com- 
panion. 

Mrs.  Boone's  death,  combined  with  his  penniless 
condition,  induced  the  old  Scout  to  abandon  his 
separate  establishment  and  to  join  the  household  of 
his  son,  Nathan.  The  latter  seems  to  have  been  a 
worthy  descendant  of  the  old  stock.  He  was  first  a 
hunter  and  explorer,  then  a  very  successful  farmer  on 
what  was  then  a  large  scale.  In  the  British  War  of 
1812  he  served  with  great  distinction.  The  military 
life  seems  to  have  suited  him  well,  for  at  the  close  of 

302 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        303 

the  war  he  remained  in  the  regular  army  where  he 
soon  gained  the  rank  of  Keutenant-colonel.  Most 
of  his  campaigning  was  among  the  Indians  com- 
paratively near  home,  and  in  this  fighting  he  had 
many  thrilling  adventures.  The  farmhouse  he  built 
was  of  stone,  two  storied,  on  substantial  Colonial 
hues,  and  of  truly  mansion  size  and  architecture. 
Here  the  old  Scout  took  up  his  quarters,  still  chafing 
at  the  thought  that  he  had  no  part  in  the  war. 

Immediately  at  its  cessation,  however,  he  started 
off  on  a  hunting  trip,  "just  to  show  them."  He 
was  heard  of  at  Fort  Osage  on  his  way  to  the  Platte 
"in  the  dress  of  the  roughest,  poorest  hunter." 
When  winter  shut  down  he  reluctantly  returned. 
There  were  too  many  immigrants  coming  in  to  suit 
Boone's  taste:  they  were  slowly  filling  up  the  land 
and  driving  the  game  back.  Also  there  was  too 
much  law  court,  politics,  land  grabs,  and  speculation. 
In  spite  of  his  now  great  age  Boone  seriously  talked 
of  moving  again  still  farther  west  to  make  a  fresh 
start!  He  was  talked  out  of  this  by  his  sons  and 
neighbours;  but  he  insisted  on  fixing  up  part  of  an 
old  log  blockhouse  as  quarters  to  which  he  could  at 
least  temporarily  escape.  His  life  was  still  active. 
In  the  summer  he  kept  busy  working  on  the  farms 
of  his  children  or  chopping  down  trees  for  the  win- 
ter's firewood.     In  the  evenings  nothing  delighted 


304        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

him  more  than  to  gather  at  his  fireside  a  group  of  men 
who  could  tell  him  of  things  "hid  beyond  the  ranges." 
He  was  intensely  interested  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, then  on  the  edge  of  exploration,  and  eagerly 
questioned  everybody  who  could  give  him  the  least 
knowledge  of  California.  Indeed  it  is  said  that  his 
fresh  enthusiasm  was  the  cause  of  several  young 
men's  migrating  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  "A  tale  of 
new  lands  ever  found  in  him  a  delighted  listener." 

But  more  often  those  who  sat  around  the  fire  them- 
selves played  the  part  of  listeners  while  the  old 
Scout  sought  in  his  recollections  for  amusing  or  thrill- 
ing tales.  The  Boone  farm  was  visited  by  many 
people  who  came  for  the  sole  purpose  of  seeing  the 
celebrated  frontiersman.  Among  them  were  many 
men  of  distinction.  Boone  received  them  all  with  his 
fine  simplicity,  but  it  is  pleasant  to  think  that  this 
attention  from  men,  themselves  of  celebrity,  must 
have  pleased  him.  One  of  these  visitors  leaves  this 
impression  of  him,  by  which  it  can  be  seen  that  age 
was  still  sitting  lightly  on  his  head. 

"He  was  of  a  very  erect,  clean-limbed,  and  athletic 
form — admirably  fitted  in  structure,  muscle,  tem- 
perament, and  habit  for  the  labours,  changes,  and 
sufferings  he  underwent.  He  had  what  phrenologists 
would  have  considered  a  model  head — with  a  fore- 
head   peculiarly    high,   noble,  and    bold — thin    and 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        305 

compressed  lips — a  mild,  clear  blue  eye — a  large  and 
prominent  chin,  and  a  general  expression  of  counte- 
nance in  which  fearlessness  and  courage  sat  en- 
throned." 

Another  says: 

"He  was  of  very  mild  countenance,  fair  complex- 
ion, soft  and  quiet  in  his  manner,  but  little  to  say 
unless  spoken  to,  amiable  and  kind  in  his  feelings, 
very  fond  of  quiet  retirement,  of  cool  self  possession, 
and  indomitable  perseverance." 

Mind  you  this  last  was  written  of  him  when  he  was 
eighty-four  years  old.  The  following  year,  when  he 
was  eighty-five,  Chester  Harding  writes  that  he 
found  him  "living  alone  in  a  cabin,  a  part  of  an  old 
blockhouse,"  roasting  a  venison  steak  on  the  end  of 
his  ramrod.  Harding  speaks  with  great  admiration 
of  the  accuracy  of  his  memory  and  the  vividness  yet 
modesty  of  his  narratives. 

"I  asked  him,"  writes  Harding,  "if  he  never  got 
lost  in  his  long  wanderings  after  game.  He  said, 
'No,  I  was  never  lost,  but  I  was  bewildered  once  for 
three  days."'' 

But  when  the  haze  of  autumn  spread  over  the  land 
and  the  smell  of  wood  smoke  filled  the  air,  Boone  al- 
ways got  restless.  With  his  Indian  companion  he 
would  disappear  for  weeks  at  a  time.  At  the  age  of 
eighty -four  he  wrote  one  of  his  sons:  "I  intend  by 


306        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

next  summer  to  take  two  or  three  whites  and  a  party 
of  Osage  Indians  to  visit  the  salt  mountains,  lakes,  and 
ponds  and  see  these  natural  curiosities.  They  are 
about  five  or  six  hundred  miles  west  of  here." 

But  it  is  very  doubtful  if  this  expedition  ever  came 
off.  Boone's  eyesight  was  now  so  bad  that  he  had 
to  attach  pieces  of  white  paper  to  his  rifle  sights ;  but 
his  nerves  were  unpalsied,  and  what  he  could  see  he 
could  still  hit.  Doubtless  the  venison  Harding  found 
him  roasting  on  the  end  of  the  ramrod  was  of  his  own 
killing.  He  was  content.  A  contemporary  says 
that  "at  this  period  of  his  life  an  irritable  expression 
never  escaped  his  lips." 

Says  another: 

"His  personal  appearance  was  venerable  and 
attractive,  very  neatly  clad  in  garments  spun,  woven, 
and  made  in  the  cabins.  His  countenance  was 
pleasant,  calm,  and  fair,  his  forehead  high  and  bold, 
and  the  soft  silver  of  his  hair  in  unison  with  his 
length  of  days.  He  spoke,  feelingly  and  with  solem- 
nity, of  being  a  creature  of  Providence,  ordained  by 
Heaven  as  a  pioneer  in  the  wilderness  to  advance 
the  civilization  and  the  extension  of  his  country. 
He  professed  the  belief  that  the  Almighty  had  as- 
signed to  him  a  work  to  perform,  and  that  he  had 
only  followed  the  pathway  of  duty  in  the  work 
he  had  pursued ;  that  he  had  discharged  his  duty  to 


Daniel  Boone:    Wilderness  Scout        307 

God  and  his  country  by  following  the  direction  of 
Providence." 

His  children  and  grandchildren  adored  him,  and 
surrounded  him  with  affectionate  attentions.  Then, 
too,  he  was  much  cheered  by  the  fact  that  at  last 
Congress,  after  years  of  delay,  had  voted  to  confirm 
his  Spanish  grant  of  land.  It  was  now  too  late  to  do 
the  old  man  any  good;  but  it  comforted  him  greatly 
to  feel  that  he  had  something  substantial  to  leave  his 
children.  Not  that  they  needed  it:  but  it  was  a 
matter  that  touched  the  old  gentleman's  pride. 

No  longer  was  he  able  to  do  the  heavy  work  of  the 
farm,  nor  go  far  afield  in  his  hunting  expeditions; 
but  still  his  active  nature  was  as  busy  as  ever, 
though  in  a  different  way.  He  was  an  expert  at 
repairing  rifles,  for  instance,  and  could  make  and 
carve  the  most  beautiful  powder  horns;  or  could 
manufacture  moccasins,  hunting  shirts,  or  snow- 
shoes.  These  things  he  did  for  his  neighbours  out 
of  the  generosity  of  his  heart.  Except  for  the  par- 
tial dimming  of  his  eyesight,  his  health  and  vigour 
remained  good  to  the  last.  He  died  at  his  son  Nath- 
an's house  when  eighty-six  years  of  age  after  only 
three  days  of  illness. 

Drawing  a  moral  is  a  priggish  thing  to  do.  Such 
a  life  speaks  for  itself.     Yet  one  cannot  help  asking 


308        Daniel  Boone:   Wilderness  Scout 

oneself  why  Boone's  fame  stands  out  so  predomi- 
nantly above  the  other  forest  men  of  his  time. 
George  Rogers  Clark,  for  example,  with  his  bold, 
picturesque,  and  successful  campaigns  would  seem 
to  have  performed  greater  military  service  to  the 
struggling  settlements;  Simon  Kenton  had  as  thrill- 
ing adventures.  The  answer  is,  in  character.  The 
picture  that  persists  at  the  last  is  not  the  smoke  and 
dust  of  battle  and  combat,  but  the  figure  of  a  serene, 
unworldly,  kindly  soul,  fronting  what  fate  brought 
him,  whether  of  peace  or  of  turmoil,  with  spirit  un- 
ruffled and  unafraid. 


THE   END 


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